Stewarding Legacy & Wealth · Monograph IV

Governance Systems

Translating Stewardship Into a Working Operating Rhythm

Abisola Oladapo, CoreLoop Institute · SLW-004 · Published

Navy cover of Stewarding Legacy & Wealth Monograph 4, Governance Systems

Executive summary

A functioning governance system is a stack of distinct bodies — family council, board of directors, investment committee and management team — each with a different mandate, composition and kind of authority. This monograph presents the bodies, decision rights and meeting cadence through which a family's strategy is applied consistently, decision after decision.

Contents

Founder's Note
Executive Summary
The Governance Question
The Problem with Undefined Decision Rights
The Shift
From First Board Meeting to a Governance System
What Is a Governance System?
Common Governance Body Models
Right-Sizing the Governance Stack
What a Governance System Is Not
Why Governance Systems Exist
Board, Investment Committee, Family Council, or Management?
The 3 Layers of Stewardship™
The Governance Stack™
The Escalation Framework™
The Meeting Cadence Model™ and Governance in Practice
Designing Decision Rights & Authority
Separating Governance Decisions by Body
Common Governance Mistakes
Common Governance Mistakes, Continued
Governance Design Principles and Designing Across Generations
Independent Director Terms & Compensation
The Governance Maturity Model™
When Is It Time to Formalize Governance?
Questions to Answer Before Formalizing Governance
Questions to Answer Before Formalizing Governance, Continued
A Governance Design Process
The Role of the Capital Allocation Framework and Family Constitution
CoreLoop's Approach and Closing Perspective
FAQs About Governance Systems

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Founder's Note

One of the questions I hear most often from founders once a family office and a capital allocation framework are in place is deceptively simple: Who actually decides?

My response is usually another question: Decides what, and at what level?

Many families assume that once a strategy is written down — a capital hierarchy, a mandate, a set of principles — decisions will follow naturally.

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CoreLoop Advisory provides strategic, organizational and implementation advisory. We do not provide legal, tax, investment-management, accounting or fiduciary services, and we work alongside your family's qualified professional advisors.

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