AUTHOR:
James E. Hughes, Jr., Susan E. Massenzio, and Keith Whitaker (Bloomberg Press, 2012)
REVIEWER:
Dawn Franks, President, Your Philanthropy
BOOK LINK:
REVIEW:
The Cycle of the Gift should be required reading for anyone working with families of wealth. It is a remarkable book focused on the work necessary for mindful decisions about giving within families. The authors put forth the premise that each gift travels a circle from giver to recipient and back forming the spiritual core of individual and family flourishing – what they call the “spirit of the gift.”
The authors use several key images to make their point, one of which is the gift as meteor. Flying from the giver to the recipient it appears with no warning and often with negative consequences. On balance to receive the “spirit of the gift” is to learn to adapt to and integrate the gift meteor.
The Cycle of the Gift pays great attention to the importance of mindful giving which “includes understanding yourself as a giver, understanding the recipient of your gift and understanding the quality of your relationship will directly affect your ability to give well, the recipient’s ability to receive well, and your respective abilities to feel freer as a result of the gift.” To truly understand that quote the book should be read from cover to cover.
Without a doubt this book will impact my work with families of wealth. Each chapter includes critical questions a family should consider on the journey of mindful family giving. As well the authors provide valuable insight to issues of parenting children raised with wealth and the critical role of grandparents, asking and answering the deepest questions.
Shepherding families through the impact of meteoric gifts and creating a family that flourishes into future generations must be done with a thankful spirit. In their words, “if you think about the cycle of the gift as a cycle of individual development, you can recognize that you begin life with what is given. You begin life as a recipient and you end life as a recipient once more. Again, giving well rests upon receiving well.” That’s the “spirit of giving” and the cycle of the gift.
Put this book in your reading stack for 2015. It is well written and highly readable. I plan to share it with several of my clients.