When Lisa Jacobson was in kindergarten, she began having recurring nightmares. In them, she was sitting in "a gigantic wing-backed chair," she says, "and my booming dad" who, she says, "is actually very soft-spoken," was asking her: "Are you going to take over the business?" That business was a company that sold luxury gifts ("one-of-a-kind tchotchkes," Ms. Jacobson explains) and the dream was a symptom familiar to many heirs apparent.

Lots of attention is lavished on those who carry on the family business. Just last Thursday, for instance, William P. Lauder became chief executive of the cosmetics company founded by his grandmother EstŽe and run by his father, Leonard A.

Much less attention goes to those who walk away. And yet, since the average family business lasts just two generations, this club÷Ms. Jacobson calls it the Society of Family Business Dropouts÷has a larger membership.

"Whenever I meet new people at a party or at a dinner, we bond," says Ms. Jacobson, who never entered her father's business, but did found her own÷Inspirica, which helps prepare students applying to college. "We talk about summer employers laughing in our faces when we used to say, quite seriously, that we had 10 years of solid business experience at age 20; the pressures of being the chosen successor; and the wrenching decision to walk away."