“Everything, everywhere, is always moving. Forever. Get used to it.” This cutting line from fictional Logan Roy reached screens during hit TV show Succession. The sentence is one of several harsh outbursts from super-rich media mogul Roy. However, despite his entrepreneurial prowess, the father-of-four showed his weaknesses when it came to succession planning – the very concept on which the show was based.
In the satirical comedy-drama, audiences had followed along the difficult path of Logan’s son, Kendall, who had been promised as a little boy the shining role of Waystar Royco CEO. Leading his father’s empire into the future is his only goal in life – and the cause of countless conflicts with his siblings Shiv, Roman and Connor.
From a wealth management perspective, Logan’s behaviour when selecting the heir to his global media conglomerate is catastrophic. From underhanded conversations and zero family alignment, to succession instructions ambiguously marked on undated pieces of paper – he sends the personal lives of his family members and business executives into disarray. What were his biggest mistakes? Please note that plenty of spoilers lie ahead.
Mistake No 1: No family alignment
Much of the scorn and heartbreak faced by the Roy siblings – at the hands of each other and of their parents – is caused by a staggering lack of alignment. With no collective purpose, constitution, family council, or shared values, the family’s sense of unity falls to the wayside.
Take, for example, patriarch Logan and daughter Shiv’s differing principles. The pair, although shown to be very close at times, have starkly opposing political views and opinions on how their influence as a media empire should be used. This kind of problem isn’t uncommon in families, especially with members spanning generations. However, while resolving their disagreements from a personal angle is a complex and private matter, the pair fail to have healthy conversations about the topic from a business perspective, or with the involvement of third-party experts to avoid conflict.
Shiv temporarily becomes Waystar Royco’s President of Domestic Operations, in a move that saw her move closer to being seen as a serious leader. However, Shiv and Logan clash consistently on the direction in which the company should go, particularly in terms of the company’s involvement with a controversial US presidential candidate, and later their media coverage of an election.
Mistake No 2: No clear plans for wealth preservation and succession
It’s revealed in season four that Kendall, the second-eldest son, was explicitly promised the family business as a boy. At just seven years old, Kendall is told in no uncertain terms – as he describes it – that he shall inherit the role of CEO. Of course, priming a child for succession is expected and encouraged in many families. However, what Logan appears to have done is quite different.
Training his son for leadership is not the issue here – but rather his rash selection of Kendall while he was still a child. There was no way for Logan to know his son’s dreams for the future, his skills in business, or his aptitude for leading a multi-billion-dollar empire. Instead of waiting to get to know his son – and the rest of his children – he simply lands a heavy burden on Kendall’s head. Naturally, this sets the trajectory of stunted Kendall’s life. Through this conversation in his formative years, he feels bound to what he believes is his destiny.
This makes it all the more painful when, in season one as Kendall is set to be announced as his successor, Logan rips his dream away. The ageing patriarch changes his mind about stepping down, but this blow is dealt to Kendall in the most insensitive of ways.
As the series continues, with his four heirs and many others throwing their hat into the ring at different points, the views of Logan are never made quite clear. After his death in season four, a document is found in Logan’s belongings. On it is an addendum of sorts – but it is undated, not signed by any witnesses, and written extremely ambiguously. The words ‘Kendall Logan Roy’ are typed, and it appears to identify Logan’s desired successor – but the name is either underlined or struck out, to the confusion of all involved.
This piece of paper, like Logan’s behaviour throughout the series, throws clarity out the window for the Roy siblings and reveals even more cracks in the family’s wealth planning skills. It’s apparent that Logan fails to formalise his plans with wealth management experts, and he seems to rarely review these half-baked plans for life events – which is a key element of preserving one’s fortune. Instead of transparently communicating any changes of circumstances to his family when it comes to business and succession, he powers ahead without keeping his children in the loop.
Mistake No. 3: No transparency with the next generation
Kendall is not the only child affected – the interests of the Roy siblings are all handled clumsily at various stages. Throughout the series we have seen that Connor – the eldest son of Logan from his first marriage – is apparently never told why he couldn’t inherit the company, nor is he properly educated in the family business or even in basic financial literacy. After all, he is the first-born child, which is a traditional successor that many family businesses have chosen over centuries. Kendall, Roman, and Shiv – born from Logan’s second marriage – are all considered by their father as more viable successors, albeit at different levels.
Meanwhile, former political strategist Shiv shows entrepreneurial talent throughout the series. She has ruthless tendencies – not unlike her father – and a keen eye for accurately taking the temperature of US public sentiment. However, it appears she is never taken seriously by her family to take on the role of CEO. In fact, she is undermined consistently during her time as President of Domestic Operations – by her father and by brothers Connor and Roman in particular.
Roman appears to also be manipulated by Logan at various points in the show. The position of Head of ATN, the firm’s TV network, is dangled in front of him as Logan displays peaks and troughs of belief in his youngest son. However, Logan shows periods of exceptional cruelty to Roman, and ultimately lets him down by secretly telling him he has what it takes to lead – before dying without leaving any arrangements for Roman to take the reins successfully.
Logan appears to quickly alternate between pitting his children against each other and then taking the siblings out of the leadership equation altogether. In a now infamous scene, he even tells them they ‘are not serious people’ when it comes to business or indeed life.
The consequences of the Roy family’s errors
As the series ends, we see the sad culmination of deceased Logan’s lack of clarity and wealth planning. The siblings’ relationship seems irreversibly damaged by the nastiness of the finale: while Shiv and Roman try to decide if they should nominate Kendall as the next CEO, the trio’s bickering turns into their most spiteful argument to date. After much back and forth, takeovers, and secret deals, Shiv’s traitorous husband Tom ends up scooping the position. Shiv, Kendall, and Roman are left ultimately powerless, and with no chance of ever repairing their dynamic.
What could have been the solution? Proper governance would have helped to prevent the fateful events of Succession. At Julius Baer, our experts usually group important aspects of family governance into six main building blocks. Together, these are designed to introduce good communication, transparency and a healthy decision-making system, allowing for the successful integration of the next generation into the family’s company and wealth.