N. Raghuraman's column: Teach your children how to deal with a crisis...

In today's era, many business empires that have reached from 'Arsh to Floor' have been built by people who have worked hard from the ground up. But, their next generation has grown up in an era where there was no dearth of comforts. He has never tasted the bitter taste of a major economic crisis. This is the reason why there is a huge gulf of thinking between the generation that creates wealth and the generation that inherits it. The war raging in the Gulf countries and the Middle East for the last nine days has given sleepless nights to parents who built businesses from scratch. While they are staying up all night worrying about property and falling valuations, their children look unfazed. This recklessness is not the result of any bravery, but a lack of experience of the ground realities and crises. Today, many big business parents are in the same situation as Lehman Brothers during the 2008 global crisis. Remember, that company went bankrupt despite having huge assets on the balance sheet. The reason? When the crisis struck and they went out to the market to sell their properties, they did not get the price which was on paper. Overnight, those precious assets became 'junk', with no buyer left. Lloyd Blankfein, who led Goldman Sachs during the 2008 crisis, also supports the same thing. Blankfein, 71, advises anxious fathers who are afraid of the impending economic crisis: "It's wiser to sell assets at the right time, rather than sit on hold for a long time." I am not saying that the crisis will come tomorrow, but when a situation like war arises, you will find that the assets that you kept at high prices are no longer worth as much in the market. Today, the world is facing the threat of 'stagflation'. In simple words, the pace of economic growth will stop, but inflation will continue to rise. In such a situation, it is important to explain to children that they should not live in the 'illusion of stability', but make their strategy based on the changing geopolitical equations in the world. Management Tip: Teach your children to be 'prepared for a crisis'. This is the only way to keep your plans flexible and strong in the changing times. Don't prepare children for a world that doesn't exist anymore.