Knowledge Transfer Failure
Only 30% of family businesses survive transition to 2nd generation; only 12% to 3rd generation.
The knowledge was available. I tried to give it to you. 'I know. I just didn't know what I didn't know.'
When elephant matriarchs die before transmitting knowledge, herds struggle. Amboseli research shows: herds that lose matriarchs before daughters reach 40 years old show 20% higher calf mortality in subsequent droughts. The knowledge died with the matriarch, and the herd paid survival costs.
Business Application of Knowledge Transfer Failure
Only 30% of family businesses survive transition to 2nd generation; only 12% to 3rd generation. The primary cause isn't financial mismanagement - it's knowledge transfer failure. Founders don't teach successors what they know, successors don't value what founders teach, or structural incompatibility makes tacit knowledge untransferable in available time.