My name is Carmen Lence. I’m a next generation member of a family Business in the consumer products industry in Spain. My father founded our company more than 30 years ago and is still running it very successfully.

My father’s biggest loves are his kids and his business, so he has always tried to keep us together. We started working in the family business as children helping out on the weekends. As teenagers, we rotated through different positions giving holidays to employees and working part-time during college managing one of the businesses in the family holding.

I loved it and I hated it. I loved learning, the responsibility, and feeling useful and proud of my family. I hated the lack of freedom. The fact that I did not have much of a say in what I wanted, and how demanding my father could be.

As years passed by, I grew frustrated that the responsibility I was given was very limited and felt that it was the wrong way to prepare to run the company in the future. I was being trained to just follow orders. The situation was killing my initiative and my motivation. I couldn’t help but wonder, if I spend the next 30 years of my life following orders without thinking, how am I going to be prepared to run the company when my father is gone? Whose orders will I follow then?

I left my family company because I thought that I had a better chance to be a positive contributor in the future if I exposed myself to the outside world and kept my “fight” spirit alive.

After working for companies not related with my family business for a few years and living in different countries, I started following my dream and became an entrepreneur.

My company, NextGen Consulting & Coaching, and this blog are the result of my passion to work with next generation family business members that, like me, want to take ownership of their lives, to show initiative, to become successful leaders, and grow to their full potential.

Next Generation Revolution is written for those Next Generation Family Business members that don’t want to become the next Prince Charles, 63 and with their lives “on hold” waiting to take over the “Family Business” and have their moment of to shine.

Next Generation Revolution is written to inspire you to be yourself; to be proactive and take initiative to make things happened for you. Whatever it is that you want, make it happened!

If you are a Next Generation “revel” and have an interesting experience to share with the world, I’d love to hear from you and write about you in this blog. Please send me an email with the title “Next Generation Revolution” with your story to carmen@nextgenfamilybusiness.com

Join the revolution! Read on! Write on!

If you want to know more about Carmen Lence please click HERE.