Succession 101: Money lessons from TV’s dysfunctional empire

LendingTree

20/03/2023 04:00

By Chris Taylor
       NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) - 
    
  
There are a lot of guilty pleasures out there, but here is one
common to plenty of movers and shakers on Wall Street: Watching
“Succession.”
    The fourth season of the popular HBO series premieres on
March 26, tracking the dysfunctional Roy family as they continue
to gobble up the media universe and destroying all enemies.
    "Succession" is filled with instructional business tales –
some about what to do and some about what not to do. But the
world-dominating aspirations of Waystar Royco’s Logan Roy, the
cut-throat patriarch of a conglomerate portrayed by Brian Cox,
make it impossible to look away.
    To tease out key money lessons, we talked to a few leaders
in the financial world about their best takeaways.
    
    Ken Lin
    Founder & CEO, Credit Karma
    Money lesson: Who is on your board matters more than the
size of the check
    “When it comes to the business fundamentals, looping in
outside investors – particularly those who you don’t trust – is
a risky move.
    “Someone once told me, ‘All money is green, but not all
board members are the same.’ That stuck with me. On the
fundraising trail you can get money from all kinds of investors,
but it’s more important to optimize for board members who bring
the most value to the business – including sector expertise,
operating experience and their networks, over investors who can
write the biggest checks."

    
    Liz Davidson
    Founder & CEO, Financial Finesse; Author, “Money Strong”
    Money lesson: Focus on financial independence so you can
fulfill your true purpose
    “The purpose of money is to live your own purpose, but the
Roy children are extremely tied financially to their father. His
purpose has become their purpose. They have aligned their own
futures with the success of that company, and that’s very
dangerous. They don’t have the independence to stand on their
own.
    “All the siblings ultimately want to take their father’s
position, but the chances of that happening are very low. If
they had built their own financial security, separate from dad,
they wouldn’t have to be fighting each other all the time.
    “There is a really poignant scene in one of their old
childhood bedrooms. They are just behaving like siblings, and
they obviously have love for each other. But when it comes to
business, they will do anything to get ahead.
    “Succession is about what goes wrong when you don’t have
your own sense of identity. It’s incredibly toxic to make
someone else’s dreams your own – and that’s why it’s such a
fascinating show.”
    
    Doug Lebda
    Founder and CEO, LendingTree
    Money lesson: Be careful mixing family and business
    “One lesson is separating family and personal ties from
making smart business decisions. You’ll see in Succession where
they are compromising on talent by ignoring their paid experts
in favor of family.
    “As [management consultant] Jim Collins has said, it’s vital
to have the right people on the bus. As a business, if you’re
investing in having the right employees, it’s a massive missed
opportunity to not take their advice.”
    
    Ryan Serhant
    Founder and CEO, SERHANT; star of Bravo’s “Million Dollar
Listing New York”
    Money lesson: Beware of margin loans
    “In the show’s first season, as the company’s stock is
tanking, there is a margin loan call. You have to be very
careful with that, if you have taken on a big loan but your
stock can’t go below a certain price.
    “That kind of financial drama is what is so great about
shows like 'Succession' and 'Billions'. 
    “I have equity built up in businesses and homes, but I have
never borrowed against them because that’s a loan that doesn’t
go away. Why would you take on a fixed cost, against something
with variable value? You can obviously do it, but that only
works when everything works.”

 (Editing by Lauren Young and Josie Kao
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