Can Impact Investing Heal Generational Conflict?
Years ago, I attended a dinner party hosted by a close friend who at the time was pursuing a master’s degree in dispute resolution. The purpose of the dinner was twofold — to enjoy a meal prepared by a chef who had been tasked to combine unlikely ingredients and to get people with differing worldviews to sit down together and talk.
Inspired by his field of study, my friend purposely curated a guest list that would prompt his invitees to engage in debate. Finding guests with contrasting views seemed like it would be a bit of a challenge (given that we all lived in Los Angeles), however, once we began our conversation, it became clear that as a group we had quite a range of beliefs.
Chris, the facilitator, led our discussion by bringing up the sort of topics I typically try to avoid at family Thanksgiving. Gun control, abortion, immigration — basically any subject that has divided the American public by race, gender, generation, and socioeconomic status. Before igniting the “dispute” component of his anticipated degree, Chris gave each of us a piece of paper with a list of 50 values, such as family, peace, equity and freedom, and asked us to circle the five with which we most identified. Then, as we continued the conversation, we were asked to start each subsequent argument by stating the specific value that had informed and shaped our opinion.
Around the dinner table, I heard people on the other side of the aisle explain to me how their opposing outlook on an issue was grounded in the same value that led me to mine. It became abundantly clear that while we may not see eye to eye on how to achieve certain goals, our values were far more aligned than we initially thought. The exercise showed me how powerful understanding and communicating our values — not just our opinions — could be for relationships. To this day, I often reflect on this exercise as I believe it provides insight into how impact investing has the power to strengthen relationships and bridge generational divides.
When we begin working with an individual, family, family office, or foundation at Align Impact, we spend a significant amount of time doing just this: Discussing values. We help clients identify what specific issues they would like to impact with their investment dollars and help them think through challenging topics, such as exploring what they learned about money growing up and how it might influence their views of wealth today. To aid this process, we even created a tool that mirrors the values list Chris passed out all those years ago. Ultimately, after engaging in these difficult yet important dialogues, our clients come together around the question, “What do you hope to accomplish by aligning your resources with your values?”
While helping investors clarify the impact outcomes they are hoping to achieve with their resources and then building a theory of change to support these outcomes is deeply inspiring work in its own right, through this process we also have the incredible opportunity to witness how the impact investing journey can provide a layer of healing and transformation for families and multi-stakeholder groups. I’ve seen families experience significant revelation as they sift through years of generational conflict and build more meaningful relationships through facilitated values-based conversations.
Our ultimate goal at Align is to help create a world that works for all 7.9 billion people and the planet, and we know that helping families and teams clarify their values and build deeper and more empathetic relationships is an important step towards the abundance mindset required for the work we are all committed to. It can be easy to operate from a place of scarcity when our relationships are fractured or when we feel misunderstood. Using tools like a facilitated values discussion is one foundational step towards creating family or board cultures where every person feels seen, understood, and comfortable. This baseline understanding of what drives each stakeholder propels a group forward so they can take meaningful action together.
Though learning to resolve conflict at a dinner designed to teach this very process was relatively low stakes compared to the work I do now, I am still excited when I see clients have a lightbulb moment like the one I had sitting at the dinner table all those years ago. During our meetings, clients discover they are united by shared values and while they may have different opinions on how to achieve their goals, at the end of the day, they want the same thing: to create a better world for generations to come.