What Families Really Need: Why We Became Family Enterprise Advisors

It started with a lightbulb. Literally.

My mother Monette Malewski and I were sitting with a business-owning parent who wanted to bring their kids into the fold—not because it was time to pass the baton, but because they didn’t want to wait until it was. The ask was simple: How do I bring my children into the conversation so they understand what this business is about, what it does, and how they might contribute to it someday?

That conversation felt familiar. As a mother-daughter team in our own family business, we know what it means to blur the lines between dinner table and boardroom. We’re both certified Family Enterprise Advisors (FEA) with an expertise in the business market, and the same framework we use to guide our own business is what we bring to client families.

We started with the basics: What do you know about the business? What do you care about? What would make you feel engaged?

One of the children—after listening, reflecting, and realizing where their own passions lay—spoke up and said, “I want to help make Dad’s office more environmentally sustainable.” They started with the lightbulbs. That’s what sparked everything.

It almost sounds too perfect. A literal lightbulb moment? But it happened.

That small moment—the kind that might seem trivial to someone outside the room—triggered a much bigger shift. The family began to see each other not just in terms of roles or expectations, but as individuals with unique strengths and values. That simple act of participation opened the door to deeper conversations. Conversations about contribution, engagement, identity, and legacy.

And that’s the power of this work. It often starts with the smallest possible gesture. But when families feel safe to share, to participate, and to be heard, everything changes.

Why we do this work together

We’re a mother and daughter working side-by-side. My mother Monette, M Bacal Group’s President and CEO, became a Family Enterprise Advisor in 2015 after a respected leader in the community encouraged her to pursue the designation. Watching her go through the program—and seeing how it enriched the way she worked with clients—inspired me to follow the same path.

That shared training gave us more than professional credentials. It gave us a shared language, a deeper understanding of one another, and a stronger foundation for helping other families plan, communicate, and grow together.

As a family working with families, we bring both technical expertise and lived experience to the table. We’ve asked ourselves many of the same questions our clients are wrestling with. And we believe there’s something uniquely powerful about helping other families navigate their own path while walking ours at the same time.

What FEAs really do—and why it matters to family-owned businesses

Family businesses are different. The business itself is only one part of the equation—there’s also the legacy, the emotions, the future ownership, the roles that haven’t yet been defined, and the relationships that often span generations. That’s where a Family Enterprise Advisor (FEA) comes in.

FEAs are trained to see the full picture, not just the financial one. We don’t just help families transfer assets—we help them transfer values. And we know that success isn’t just about the end result. It’s about the process: how families communicate, how they make decisions together, and how they adapt when things don’t go according to plan.

A skilled FEA brings a unique set of tools and insights to the table:

• We understand the complexities of family enterprises—not just from a business standpoint, but in terms of emotional, legal, relational, and generational layers.

• We take a whole-system approach that integrates financial strategies with family values, communication styles, and long-term continuity planning.

• We’re trained to check our own biases and ask the sensitive questions—about fairness, readiness, succession, legacy—that often go unspoken.

• We don’t work alone. FEAs know the power of a multidisciplinary team. We collaborate with accountants, lawyers, investment advisors, and other professionals to make sure families are supported from every angle.

• We focus on more than financial wealth. Human, intellectual, social, and spiritual capital all play a role in defining a family’s total wealth—and each piece matters.

When families work with an FEA, they’re investing in something deeper: shared understanding, aligned vision, and continuity that respects both the business and the people behind it.

The road to building a multigenerational family enterprise is never simple. It takes structure. It takes communication. And yes, it takes work. But with the right guidance—and the right team—it’s absolutely possible.

Families aren’t broken, they’re complex

At M Bacal Group, we sit across the table from families who want to do right by each other. They want to protect their wealth, preserve their values, and stay connected. But when business and family overlap, it’s not always easy to know how.

We’re a family business that works with other families—and that gives us a unique perspective. Long before we became certified Family Enterprise Advisors, we saw that clients didn’t just need technical guidance—they needed help navigating the emotional and relational side of decision-making. The FEA designation gave us the language, structure, and tools to do that work more intentionally.

Now, our shared FEA background helps us collaborate even more effectively—not only with each other, but with the families we support.

We learned that families don’t struggle because they’re dysfunctional. They struggle because no one ever taught them how to have the right conversations.

The FEA mindset: reflect, don’t rescue

One of the most valuable lessons we took from our FEA training is this: our role isn’t to have all the answers. It’s to create space for better questions. Sometimes the most impactful thing we can do is simply hold up a mirror.

When family members hear their own words reflected back—when they see that their ideas and emotions are being heard without judgment—they begin to open up. Assumptions give way to understanding. Silence gives way to strategy.

As family enterprise advisors, we don’t walk in with a pre-written plan. We have questions. We listen. And once the children begin to imagine how they might participate in a way that feels authentic, the conversation grows from there.

Governance is care, not control

When people hear “governance,” they often imagine something rigid or overly formal. But in family businesses, governance is really about care. It’s about setting boundaries that protect relationships. Creating decision-making processes that don’t depend on personality. And building systems that make space for each generation’s voice.

Through the FEA framework, we help families explore:

• What does communication look like when there’s disagreement?

• How do we define “involvement” or “contribution” in our family?

• What are the values we want to pass down—and how do we live them day to day?

These aren’t just philosophical questions. They’re practical ones. And the earlier a family starts talking about them, the better their chances of growing their legacy without losing their connection.

Why this work matters to us—personally and professionally

Working in a family business ourselves, we know how blurred the lines can get. We’ve lived the challenge of figuring out where you fit, how to communicate, and what role you want to play—not just at work, but around the dinner table.

The FEA training didn’t just help us support other families. It helped us understand our own. It gave us the language to talk to each other, to our colleagues, and even to our children about the dynamics that shape our lives. It made us better listeners, better collaborators, and better advisors.

Families don’t need perfect plans. They need safe conversations.

At the end of the day, families want to stay connected while doing something meaningful together. But connection doesn’t happen by accident. It happens through intentional conversations—the kind that acknowledge different voices, values, and visions for the future.

As FEAs, our job is to help create that space. To make sure the right people are at the table. To help them speak, listen, and move forward—together.

And sometimes, it all starts with something as small as a lightbulb.

Lianne Ulin and Monette Malewski are certified Family Enterprise Advisors (FEAs) at M Bacal Group in Montreal. As a mother-daughter team, they work closely with families and business owners to support legacy, leadership, and long-term continuity through honest, values-driven planning—bringing both technical expertise and lived experience to the table.