The Beckham case and the risk of losing the next gen in business families
by Alfredo De Massis and Emanuela Rondi
The publicly exploded conflict in the Beckham family is read as an affair of difficult relationships in the spotlight. In reality, it speaks closely to business families grappling with generational transition: what happens when children raised in systems where cohesion borders on entanglement try to assert their autonomy?
Read from a systemic perspective, the progressive estrangement of the eldest son Brooklyn from his parents, manifested in public stances, reflects a recurring tension in entrepreneurial families: strong roots which, if not accompanied by spaces of differentiation, risk becoming constraints rather than resources. Cohesion, when not evolving, can become control; protection, if excessive, can be a limitation.
The Beckhams are a famous family that has become entrepreneurial over time: a global brand, reputational capital built over the long term and strong identification between family identity and economic value. It is a system with weak internal boundaries, where everything is intertwined, and marked external boundaries, with a strongly guarded image. It is a configuration analogous to traditional entrepreneurial families, where the affective, ownership and governance spheres tend to overlap and external reputation is fundamental.
Brooklyn grows up within a strong family image. The expectation of symbolic continuity - being part of the brand, embodying its values, supporting its public narrative - reduces the space for autonomous self-construction. The differentiation processes necessary for the development of one's identity come into tension with the sense of belonging.
Here the central issue of the relationship between roots and wings emerges. Entrepreneurial families are by their very nature oriented towards the transmission of values, vision and material and immaterial heritage. Roots represent stability, continuity and family identity; in order for continuity to be sustainable, they must be flanked by spaces for autonomy, experimentation and personal legitimisation for the next gen to develop their own trajectory.
