What Listening Changes

We thought we knew where our conversation with Zoe Schlag was going.

Zoe is CEO and Co-Founder of Common Trust, where she works with business owners considering employee ownership as an exit strategy. We expected our preparation to center on succession, liquidity, and the structure of a transition.  

Then we read her questionnaire.

Again and again, she returned to what happens after the transaction: employees who helped build the company, cultures shaped over decades, family members who do not want to take over, and communities affected when a local business changes hands.  

That caught our attention because we see the same pattern with families we advise. Someone arrives with a financial question. We start there, but the conversation often changes once we understand what sits behind it.

A business valuation turns into a discussion about employees. An inheritance conversation moves toward trust between generations. A portfolio review raises a broader question about whether the money still supports the life someone wants.

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Listening for what sits underneath

Financial questions often arrive in concrete form. There is a number to calculate, an account to review, a structure to evaluate, or a decision that needs to be made. We want to solve those things. Our work also requires us to understand why they matter.

An owner thinking about a sale might also be thinking about the employees who spent twenty years beside them. A parent planning an inheritance might be worried about how the money will affect a child. Someone reviewing a portfolio might be asking whether the plan still reflects what matters now. Those concerns shape the financial work.

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Staying curious a little longer

Sometimes good listening means holding off on the answer long enough to ask another question.

• What do you hope happens after the decision?

• Who else will live with the outcome?

• What are you trying to preserve?

The answers give the financial analysis direction. That was what stood out to us in Zoe’s responses. A business exit reaches well beyond the seller. Employees, family members, and communities all live with what follows. The same is true of many decisions around wealth.  

At Conscious Wealth, we want to understand the number and the reason behind it before we start solving.

Sometimes the most useful thing we do is listen long enough for the question to change.

What we haven’t asked yet?

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Continue the Conversation

Our preparation for this piece began with a conversation with Zoe Schlag, CEO and Co-Founder of Common Trust. Explore the full episode for Zoe’s perspective on employee ownership, succession, liquidity, and what business owners want to preserve through a transition.

Listen to the Full Episode >> (link to episode)

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Thinking through a transition of your own?

Talk with the Conscious Wealth team about the financial and personal questions shaping what comes next.

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