When the Role Finds You: The Tension Between Belonging and Becoming

When the Role Finds You: The Tension Between Belonging and Becoming

From Legacy Builders: Strategies for Building Successful Family Enterprises by Cory Gagnon

March 20, 2026 · 48 min · Episode 65

About this episode

The episode explores the complexities of identity and belonging within family enterprises with guest Alexander Saunders.

In this episode, we’re joined by Alexander Saunders, Practice Director at Dialogos. Alex is a generative facilitator working at the intersection of dialogue, leadership, and complex human systems. Through work across the entertainment, venture capital, and hospitality sectors, as well as his own fifth-generation family business and other family-owned enterprises ranging from single-site operations to global hospitality groups, he brings both practical experience and scholarly grounding to the challenges of leadership, transition, and belonging within family enterprise. Our conversation focuses on what it means to find your place when identity, expectation, and opportunity become deeply intertwined, and on how families can create the conditions for people to grow into responsibility with greater clarity and readiness.

People in this episode

Host: Cory Gagnon

Guest: Alexander Saunders

Topics covered

  • leadership
  • family enterprise
  • identity
  • belonging
  • transition
  • responsibility

Keywords

  • leadership
  • family business
  • identity
  • belonging
  • transition
  • responsibility
  • dialogue

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Dialogos, fifth-generation family business, global hospitality groups

More episodes of Legacy Builders: Strategies for Building Successful Family Enterprises

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Legacy Builders: Strategies for Building Successful Family Enterprises podcast page.