Date: Tuesday, March 24 | Time: 12:00 PM EST
Beyond the Business
Life Purpose for Rising Gen and Retiring Leaders
A panel conversation on identity, meaning, and what comes next — for those stepping in and those stepping away.
STARTS IN
The Business Gave You a Role. Did It Give You a Self?
For rising generation family members, the question is: Who am I — outside of my family's name, my family's expectations, and a future that was designed before I arrived?
For founders and leaders stepping down, the question is: Who am I — when the thing I've built, led, and sacrificed for is no longer mine to run?
On the surface, these look like different problems.
They aren't.
Both are confronting the same hidden cost of building a life around a business: when the role changes, the identity shakes. And if you never developed a self beyond the role — the transition doesn't just feel disorienting. It feels like loss.
This forum exists to name that honestly — and to explore what it looks like to build a life rooted in purpose, not position.
Two Transitions. One Question.
For the Rising Generation:
You were raised inside something bigger than yourself. The business was the family's identity long before it was yours. And somewhere along the way — whether through expectation, love, obligation, or genuine passion — your future got wrapped up in it too.
That may be exactly right for you. Or it may not be. Or it may be both at once.
The question most rising gen leaders were never given space to ask: What do I actually want? What is mine — not inherited, not assigned, but genuinely mine? What does purpose feel like when it comes from the inside rather than the outside?
Without that question, even the most talented next-generation leader is operating on borrowed identity. And borrowed identity doesn't hold under pressure.
For the Founders and Leaders Stepping Down:
You built something real. You sacrificed for it. You led through uncertainty, made hard calls, showed up when no one else could.
And now — by choice or by timeline — you're being asked to hand it over.
What no one prepares you for: the grief of that. The disorientation of walking away from the thing that organized your days, defined your authority, and told the world who you were.
The succession plan can be perfect. The estate plan can be airtight. And you can still feel completely unmoored.
Because the question nobody planned for is: What is my life about now?
Why This Panel — And Why Now
Most conversations about family business focus on structure, governance, and transition planning. Those matter. But they don't touch the territory this forum is designed for.
The inner work of purpose. The psychology of identity. The embodied experience of not knowing who you are anymore — and finding your way back to something true.
We've assembled four practitioners who live and work at this intersection — not from the outside looking in, but from inside the territory itself.
MEET THE PANEL
Chris Yonker
Family Business Advisor | Trauma-Informed Specialist | FFI Certified
Chris Yonker works with family business owners navigating succession readiness, leadership transition, and long-term ownership continuity. His work focuses on the human dynamics beneath strategy—unspoken expectations, emotional readiness, and the risks created by avoidance. Chris helps families slow critical moments down, strengthen communication, and create the shared clarity needed to make intentional decisions about the future."
Michael Brabant
Co-founder of Real Human Inc.
Michael Brabant, PhD, and Trine Bietz-Brabant are the co-founders of Real Human Inc., a company devoted to the evolution of leadership and human development.
Michael advises CEOs and founders navigating complex, high-stakes leadership, integrating depth psychology, leadership development, and contemplative practice to cultivate clarity, precision, and trustable power.
Together, they develop the inner capacity required to navigate complexity, hold power responsibly, and lead from coherence rather than conditioning—integrating psychological depth, relational intelligence, and the masculine and feminine dimensions of leadership.
Jolie Yonker
Director of Well-Being and
Founder of East Coast Yoga Club
As a certified lineage-based yoga teacher, Jolie works with leaders and executives who are navigating the tension between achievement and aliveness — between performing at a high level and actually feeling present in their lives.
Her work is grounded in the body. Because purpose isn't only a mental question — it's something you feel. And many high-performing leaders have spent decades learning to override what their body knows in service of what the business needs.
Jolie brings the question of embodied well-being into the conversation: What does a life of purpose actually feel like — not just look like on paper?
Trine Brabant
Co-founder of Real Human Inc.
Michael Brabant, PhD, and Trine Bietz-Brabant are the co-founders of Real Human Inc., a company devoted to the evolution of leadership and human development.
Trine is a ritual artist and guide who supports leaders and women in reclaiming authentic power, embodied truth, and soul-aligned expression through experiential work blending art, ritual, and direct insight.
Together, they develop the inner capacity required to navigate complexity, hold power responsibly, and lead from coherence rather than conditioning—integrating psychological depth, relational intelligence, and the masculine and feminine dimensions of leadership.
Who This Forum Is For
This conversation is designed for:
• Rising generation family members who are trying to discover — or claim — a sense of purpose that is genuinely their own
• Founders, owners, and senior leaders who are stepping back from active leadership and navigating the identity shift that comes with it
• Spouses and partners of family business leaders who are inside this transition alongside someone they love
• Advisors and family business consultants who want to understand the inner landscape of the clients they serve
What the Panel Will Explore
• Why identity collapse — not financial loss — is the real risk of stepping down
• How rising gen leaders can begin to separate their inherited story from their actual purpose
• What the psychological work of "letting go" actually requires from a founder
• How embodied practices support the discovery of what's true — not just what's expected
• What it means to build a life that is soul-aligned, not just strategically sound
• How masculine and feminine dimensions of leadership show up in purpose work — and why both matter
The Family Business Executive Forum
The Family Business Executive Forum is a series of exclusive virtual gatherings designed specifically for family business leaders and their advisors. These forums serve as a platform to bring together the best expert advisors from around the world to share their insights on the most important topics in family business leadership. Addressing family business challenges requires a different approach. We recognize that without addressing the human dynamics within family businesses, it's nearly impossible to touch the strategic side effectively.
Confidentiality and Anonymity
We understand that matters pertaining to family and business can be especially sensitive. Hence, we host these forums as a webinar so that no one in attendance outside of our team has access to the name of any other attendees and there is no option for attendees cameras to be seen. We will open the question box for questions at various times throughout the forum, and no one outside of our team can see or access the questions. We are committed to the privacy and confidentiality of our attendees.