Family Advisor & Coach
My story begins in a family-run business. The “family” business in this case was a monastery of 20+ monks that owned and operated a school and operated a parish. Our Abbot (President) Emeritus had been leading our monastic “family” and “business” for twenty-one years, when he appointed me his second in command, Prior (Executive Vice President). I served in that position for seven years; two under him, five under his successor; and I observed and learned a lot along the way, both about administration and about a long-standing system of “family” governance. I also served as our Cellarer (CFO), co-chairing our Finance committee. So, what did I do to help the “family” business? Read on to learn about our family growth activities and process improvement activities.
Family Growth Activities
Naturally, different groups have different starting points. We started small. With the help of outside professionals, we learned about nonviolent communication, emotional intelligence, effective communication, and stages of change, among other topics. Slowly, the brothers came alive; slowly, one by one, people started trusting each other more and contributing more to our conversations. Eventually, we could have deeply real and meaningful conversations on important topics. From this experience came my preliminary family growth activities, which, as necessary, get you to the point of having real conversations on important topics.
Process Improvement Activities
We then focused on organizational design. In light of changing circumstances, we redefined our values / mission, our desired leadership style, and our desired culture. In doing so, we uncovered both our common points of reference and our differences, especially across generations. Once we accommodated each other on our differences, we enthusiastically refashioned our common project, coming up with many practical changes. Think here of a retro-inspired car; the new version is true to the spirit of the original model but built for today. That’s what we did, we re-envisioned each core component according to recent advances in research, all within the lines of the original model. It’s amazing the conversations that can occur when people move from thinking “this is how things are done around here” to reflecting together on “this is how we want things to be done around here.” This process has now become my eight necessary process improvement conversations for co-creating lasting change that sticks. The result of this process is a new purposeful collaboration — this can take the form of a family constitution, a new vision for your family office/enterprise, or a bespoke solution.
I accompany group and personal growth, with a unique combination of expertise
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in strategy consulting, as one who advised major organizations in organizational design and change management
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in monastic life, as one who brought the following process to his own “family” and “family business”
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in the Catholic priesthood, as one who has accompanied many people, of every generation, in their journeys of healing and growth
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in administration, as one who has served as Prior (Executive Vice President) and Cellarer (CFO) of a monastery (medium-sized non-profit organization)
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in research, as a published author who has led people to thrive by God’s help — see my book, The Grace of Nothingness
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and in my own hero’s journey to a new place in life (which is a great tale of personal transformation from the Appalachian trail)
Education and Certification
S.T.L., Spiritual Theology, Pontifical University of Saint Thomas in Urbe (Angelicum), 2015.
Ordination to Catholic Priesthood, 2013.
S.T.B., Theology, Pontifical University of Saint Thomas in Urbe (Angelicum), 2013.
B.S., (double major), Economics and Human and Organizational Development with a concentration in Leadership in Organizations, Vanderbilt University, 2001.
