Every family business began as a startup.
A founder sees a problem, takes a risk and builds something from nothing. Often they are compelled not only to solve the problem, but also create the type of environment they wish to solve that problem in, and with the people they wish to solve that problem with.
In doing so, they are not only bringing technical expertise to starting a company, they are also bringing a set of values and an approach to engaging with the team and the customers that they serve.
In those early years, the purpose is crystal clear. Every founding member of the team knows why the company exists. Sometimes, even survival depends on it.
But as organizations grow from founding, to scaling and if successful enough, to growth and sustaining stages, that clarity fades. The team expands. New markets emerge. Leadership changes. Professional managers enter. More time passes between the present and the founding. With each new successful development comes distance from that early clarity.
Over time, the “why” becomes abstract. What remains are metrics, processes and structures. These are all necessary in a growing company, but wholly insufficient. Without intentional reminders of purpose, later generations inherit an enterprise without inheriting its soul.
Take Kodak for example. Kodak’s founding purpose was to help people capture memories. Its failure to sustain in the digital age resulted from a defense of the printing technology rather than a doubling down of the purpose.
Families have always understood this in the context of meals. Think back to a grandmother’s treasured cookie recipe or an aunt’s lasagna recipe or a simple practice that starts a family gathering. That’s why recipes are guarded and passed down, holiday traditions are preserved and stories are retold. The soul of a family lives in the rituals they pull together. These rituals carry meaning long after the original storytellers are gone.
What is less obvious is that enduring family businesses—as well as many of the most successful organizations—rely on the same principle. They create rituals.
These are not meaningless ceremonial gestures, but small, living practices that reconnect new employees and subsequent generations to the company’s original purpose, values, and responsibilities.
In an era when many family enterprises struggle to survive past the second or third generation, I believe rituals may be one of the most underappreciated tools for organizational continuity.
Rituals surface founding values in visible and repeatable ways. They transform abstract principles into lived experiences, connecting the past, present and future.
Here are three examples of how this has played out in organizations.
Using Letters to Build a Legacy: Brandt Louie and H.Y. Louie
If you visit the offices of H.Y. Louie in British Columbia—now in its fourth generation under co-presidents (and brothers) Stuart and Gregory Louie—you’ll find three hand-written letters in Chinese, an English translation and photos of the Louie family.
These letters were written in 1934, when Hok Yat Louie, founder of H.Y. Louie, left Canada to visit his hometown in China. Unsure if he would ever return due to ill heath, he wrote the letters to his sons.
The letters outlined his personal philosophy and the principles he followed as a merchant.
They contained advice on leading a good life and how to conduct themselves in business. The attributes mentioned include: humility, perseverance, integrity and service. Following his death, those letters became sacred objects. They are essentially the heart of the business and continue to form the core values of both the business and the family, as evidenced by their success and in how they give back to the community.
The themes of the letters are as relevant today as when written. As such, each generation has revisited them. They have been discussed, re-interpreted and applied in new contexts to meet the needs of an evolving business. When the family expanded its grocery business and later purchased London Drugs, the letters remained a reference point for each generation of incoming leadership.
Brandt Louie, third-generation leader and current chairman, continues this tradition. He has written his own letters to his sons—reminders of the family’s founding principles and their responsibility to steward the enterprise.
“We display these letters in our headquarters because they are the North Star for why our business exists and the values we hold on to. Each generation will express those values in the appropriate modern context as the business has now evolved beyond grocery and retail stores to medical clinics and other enterprises. But our founding principles remain a fundamental part of our DNA,” Louie noted.
Today, H.Y. Louie is the third-largest private firm in British Columbia and more than 120 years old. Its success is not accidental. It is rooted in a ritual that keeps leadership anchored to purpose.
The letters are more than artifacts. They are a living conversation across generations.
Keeping the “Why” Visible: Mark Gilreath and MultiCare
Rituals are not limited to family businesses.
When Mark Gilreath founded and was CEO of Endochoice, solving cancer was part of their purpose. If you walked into the offices then, you would find large photos of people everywhere. Mark wanted to put their purpose in whom they serve on top of his team’s minds every day. He had encouraged his employees to bring in photos of someone they know who has been impacted by cancer. Some show parents. Others show siblings, spouses or friends.
For Mark, his photo was of his mother.
These images form a collective ritual. They remind people why they come to work. Why long hours matter. Why bureaucracy must never eclipse compassion. When difficult decisions arise—budget constraints, operational trade-offs, strategic pivots—those faces are there, keeping the organization purposefully grounded.
This practice does what mission statements rarely do. It makes the purpose, every employee’s “why,” deeply personal. It transforms abstract goals into human stories, and it sustains motivation long after initial passion might fade. Prior to its IPO and subsequent sale to Boston Scientific, Endochoice was recognized by Inc. Magazine for six consecutive years by as one of the fastest growing companies in America
A Wall-Sized Reminder: Steve Pagliuca and the Power of Origins
A few years ago, when I walked into Steve Pagliuca’s office at Bain Capital, I noticed something unusual.
Covering nearly half a wall is a stark black-and-white photograph of a factory worker, an unexpected sight in the office of a billionaire investor and sports executive. For visitors who don’t know the story, it can be puzzling, even out of place. That image is not decor. It is a deliberate reminder of where Steve came from, what he stands for and the values that continue to guide his leadership.
That worker is his grandfather.
Pagliuca, co-chairman of Bain Capital and former co-owner of the Boston Celtics keeps the photo as a constant reminder of his family’s beginnings in the United States.
An Italian immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1921, Pagliuca’s grandfather was a shoemaker, whose life embodied hard work, sacrifice and dignity. Those values shaped the family and, later, Pagliuca’s leadership philosophy.
The photo is Pagliuca’s daily ritual of remembrance, reinforcing humility in the face of success. It reminds him of the sacrifices made that paved the way for his own opportunities. In moments of triumph or pressure, it quietly anchors him and every employee to his origins: a visual reminder that leadership is not about entitlement, but about stewardship, gratitude and honoring the generations who carried the weight before him.
What These Leaders Have in Common
While diverse, these examples all serve the same function, answering three essential questions for every generation of leaders: Who came before us? Why does this organization exist? What do we owe those who come after us?
Whether at the individual or organizational level, small but effective rituals can turn these questions into ongoing practices rather than occasional reflections, embedding memory into organizational management.
Three Ways to Build Rituals That Last
Based on these examples, first or second-generation leaders of family businesses can take three practical steps to create enduring rituals in their own organizations.
- Make the Founding Story Visible
Whilst most companies know their origin story, few display it. Find tangible ways to surface it, such as through letters, photographs, artifacts or personal objects. Share the founder’s story as part of employee onboarding. Create physical spaces dedicated to honoring the company’s history. Visibility matters. What leaders and employees see daily shapes what they value and how they conduct themselves in their everyday work.
- Connect Purpose to Real People
Purpose becomes powerful when it has a face. To connect this purpose to real people, encourage employees and family members to share who and what motivates them. You could create rituals around customer testimonials of how the work you do has positively impacted them. These practices humanize strategy and remind leaders that decisions affect lives, not just KPIs, revenue, or balance sheets.
- Pass It Forward Intentionally
Rituals must evolve. Each generation should interpret founding values for its own context without abandoning them. You could host intergenerational dialogues between new employees and long-time employees to create space for shared storytelling and encourage them to translate inherited wisdom into relevant practices today. Write a letter to your successor and intentionally include visual elements in the office that have meaning in the everyday environment.
Rituals only endure when their meaning is transmitted, not just their form. Without context, new employees or next-generation leaders may go through the motions without understanding why the practice exists, reducing it into something symbolic but hollow. Encourage younger leaders not only to preserve the ritual, but to talk about it and to reinterpret it: to make it personally meaningful, relevant to new realities and alive in their own leadership journey.
From Memory to Stewardship
In my family, my grandmother never ran a company. But through her delicious food, heartwarming stories and loving care, she created rituals that shaped who I am.
In cooking her dishes for my children and telling them about her life, I am extending her legacy.
Family businesses and values-driven organizations operate the same way. Their greatest asset is memory. Memory of struggle, purpose and responsibility.
Rituals preserve that memory, transforming success from something inherited into something earned and protected. They remind each generation that leadership is not ownership. It is stewardship.
And in a world where change is constant, rituals are what keep organizations anchored to who they are and why they exist.
So, if you want to build a business that lasts, don’t focus just on strategy, create rituals.
