The TV series Succession has gotten great reviews for portraying the Roy family, owners of Waystar Royco, a global media and entertainment conglomerate, as they fight for control of the company amid uncertainty about the health of the family's patriarch, Logan Roy.
As Logan’s health declines, his children battle each other to position themselves as the successor. Meanwhile, the children struggle with mental illness, substance abuse, and unhealthy and toxic interpersonal relationships. This Los Angeles Times article provides an overview of each character’s challenges. These people are fictional, but they offer examples of issues real families face.
The Roys have a large support team that includes attorneys, wealth advisors, accountants, and numerous assistants, but many of the family’s underlying issues remain unaddressed.The family would also have benefited from creating a succession plan and thinking more broadly about their future.
The Right Support Makes All the Difference
The story of the Roy family makes for a dramatic and highly entertaining TV show, but in real life, struggles like this can be avoided.
Ultra-high-net-worth families like the Roys often find support via peer-to-peer consultation services like the ones offered by Chip Fisher at Ursus Advisory. Chip helps UHNW next gens and their families build genuine, honest relationships and manage the inevitable pressures that arise. He has been watching Succession and shared his thoughts.
He says the Roy siblings’ first problem is that they have tied their careers and further fortune-making opportunities to their father’s company. “This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but since they know exactly what he’s like, and how he plays king to both executives and family members alike, they would do well to recognize this and not expect him to somehow change.” The Roy children conflate their love of their father, and his love for them, and business, even though these are completely different subjects.
“The second issue is that none of them seem to have solid friendships outside of the family, which would offer them a connection to someone who could listen to their issues without judgment,” Chip adds. “Clearly, this could also be done with a professional, but none chooses to go that route. Instead, they are inextricably drawn into the family vortex, from which there seems to be no exit.”
Unlike Tony Soprano, who spent countless hours with his therapist, the family members on Succession suppress their emotions instead of getting the help they need.
Without the right support, family dynamics can become chaotic. If the Roys worked with an expert health advisor, they could have had ongoing support managing and preventing their mental health, substance abuse, and isolation issues.
Every family faces different challenges. If your family needs guidance on treating mental health or substance abuse issues or finding care for an aging loved one, reach out to us. In matters of health, having someone outside the family to assist and provide decision support is invaluable.
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