Second-Gen Leaders

Second-gen leaders are people who inherit wealth, position, or power as sons or daughters of founders, entrepreneurs, or organizational leaders. You would think that belonging to a club with the word lucky in its name would be something to brag about, but folks in the Lucky Sperm Club (LSC) rarely do. Instead, these heirs to family business fortunes often feel guilty about the mixed blessings they've received and try to hide that feeling in various, typically ineffectual, ways. To end the suffering of LSC members, the author offers the most egregious myths about being born rich and behavioral strategies that can convert potentially disastrous circumstances into blessings: 1. Head starts yield head cases. 2. Inherited wealth is disincentivizing. 3. Sycophants cling to LSC members like barnacles cling to ships.