Opening the door from the other side: supporting wealth-holders

I see two challenges in the Wealth Hacking space:

1.     The term Wealth Hackers suggests to me an attack on wealth-holders, and thus an ‘othering’: ‘they’ have money that ‘we’ believe should be elsewhere.

2.     Without underlying belief change amonst wealth holders and wealth managers, any financial mechanism introduced may have only a short-term impact, as new barriers will merely incentivise new means of circumvention.

My ‘hack’ addresses both of these challenges, focusing on:

1.     a more inclusive approach, working with wealth-holders rather than against them, recognising our common humanity and ‘opening the door from the other side’.

2.     an embodied approach, supporting wealth-holders to explore their cognitive dissonance and seek a more harmonious relationship with their wealth by changing underlying naratives and belief systems.

I am encountering several blockers to change in the development of this hack:

1.     The time it is taking to build awareness and engagement, and specifically to recruit wealth-holders to participation

2.     The up-front hire cost of suitable workshop venues

3.     The lack of my own sufficiently strong network of wealth holders and wealth managers

The need to generate an income for my work as a whole means that this hack is low on the list of priorities for my time. A grant from the WHI would allow me to dedicate the time needed to move to the next phase and a wider roll-out.

My approach is based on the methodology of systemic family constellations, surfacing hidden dynamics using embodied practices to give new perspectives and lasting behavioural shifts.

Systemic constellations explore the relationship between elements of a system (be it family, organisational or the wider community) to reveal hidden dynamics and catalyse shifts at an energetic level. The premise is that individuals hold intuitive knowledge about the structures, relations, and interdependencies of the components within the social systems of which they are part. However, this knowledge is often implicit and subconscious.

Family constellations are already used to explore relationships with money via public workshops on this theme. Peter Koenig’s ‘Money Work’ is also used as the basis for personal and group coaching in this space. This hack has narrowed the target focus to UHNWI, aiming to offer a space where wealth-holders feel comfortable to share, and focusing more specifically on their issues.

Such issues might include:

·      Dissonance between family attachment to wealth and their own values, particularly with regard to concern for future generations and environmental change.

·      Our innate human need to ‘belong’ and the resulting challenge of disloyalty to inherited family values.

·      The dissonance between long-standing philanthropic objectives of family offices, trusts and foundation and current, critical global needs.

·      The origin of wealth (e.g. slavery, colonialism and other means of building wealth based upon exploitation of people or natural resources) and the emotions attached to this.

·      The health burdens which accompany family wealth, both physical and mental health, including the susceptibility to addictive behaviours.

·      The challenges of feeling ‘othered’ by those without accumulated wealth.

As well as shifting perspectives for participants, family constellations create a positive shift that extends far beyond, both into the wider community and on to future generations – an immeasurable ripple effect.

Work to date on this hack

The hack involves both in-person workshops and 1-2-1 sessions. The former are limited to the UK for the time being. The latter are available in London and surrounding areas in person and worldwide via Zoom.

A pilot workshop supported by Be The Earth Foundation with complimentary London venue provision is due to take place on 31st October 2025 [https://stephfrench.com/wealth]. However it is proving challenging to generate sufficient participants to make the workshop viable. Nevertheless there has been significant positive feedback on the concept and a small number of 1-2-1 client consultations, both as a direct outcome from the workshop marketing.

To move forward to the next stage of this hack I need to:

·      Invest in venue hire for in-person workshops (proposed for early March and late May 2026) to demonstrate continuity of offer and thereby generate confidence in the work

·      Connect directly with more wealth-holders and wealth managers, including by drawing on the network of the Wealth Hackers Initiative

Team capability: Steph French

I work at the nexus of psychology, systemic change and embodied practices, using facilitation skills to surface hidden dynamics and shift blockers to change. Facilitating inclusive processes is a fundamental part of my work, with particular focus on presencing, deep listening and ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard.

It was lived experience which drew me to systemic thinking, and systemic family constellations in particular, some almost a decade ago. Since that time I have benefited from extensive training, including with first generation teachers Gaye Donaldson, Chris Williams, Edward Rowland, Bill Mannle, Stephan Hausner and Zita Tulyahikayo. My skills are backed up with personal experience of burnout, trauma healing, breaking cycles, recognising patterns and stories, challenging societal expectations and finding my own sense of belonging and ‘right’ place to make a difference.

A key strand of my work is guiding individuals to explore their relationship with money, including issues involving family loyalties, inherited stories and other attachments. I have recently launched a workshop series to support financial planners in exploring blockers to engagement with clients on sustainability issues, with a view to shifting money in that direction [https://stephfrench.com/financial-planners]. I am considering a similar series to support wealth managers in exploring their own relationship with philanthropy to encourage better support for their clients in this space. There is potential for the current ‘hack’ to feed into this latter idea.

My work in this space has the potential to contribute in other ways to the WHI community in general, and this cohort of grantees in particular – sharing my systemic lens and facilitation skills to surface hidden dynamics and blockers to change in the hacks of others as well as the in the wider wealth space.

As a Director of Constellators International [https://constellators-international.com/climate-psychology-and-systemic-change/] I am well-placed to connect with a worldwide community of systemic constellation facilitators to expand implementation of this ‘hack’ to other territories.

·      Long term behavioural change for those wealth-holders who participate in the workshops through embodied integration of new narratives

·      A wider ripple effect well beyond participants through changed interactions with family members and beyond

·      Clarity on the support wealth-holders would most like (workshops or 1-2-1) and how to best reach them

·      Broader awareness of this work, leading to increased uptake with future workshops, thus speeding up roll-out and impact

·      Longer term outcomes of this work could be reduced wealth hoarding, improved flow of philanthropy and a greater sense of belonging and common humanity for wealth-holders amongst non-wealth holders

·      Once the methodology is established the approach is expected to be self-sustaining through income from workshop places and 1-2-1 sessions.

·      The methodology is readily transferable to other countries. Training and guidance could be offered to facilitate this.