"Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy." – Robert A. Heinlein "We can really respect a man only if he doesn’t always look out for himself." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe One of the most challenging issues for family owned businesses has to do with the succession of a son or daughter as [...]
"Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now." – Alan Lakein Have you noticed how frequently businesses come and go? You buy a product or service from a good local company for years. Then you hear that the company has gone out of business. Someone else [...]
"Culture is the set of beliefs, values, and norms, together with symbols like dramatized events and personalities, that represents the unique character of an organization, and provides the context for action in it and by it." – Gareth Morgan "Leadership defined by "To lead is not to influence others to do something they are not [...]
"Family life! The United Nations is child’s play compared to the tugs and splits and need to understand and forgive in any family." – Mary Sarton In a recent article I talked about how the strengths and weaknesses of individual family members affect the overall success of the business. The converse is also true: the changing [...]
"No one ever excused his way to success." – Dave Del Dotto It’s no secret that I’m a proponent of strategic planning. If you’ve read any of my articles over the years, you know that I believe every business – especially closely held businesses – should implement a strategic plan to align the organization around key [...]
"All good businesses are personal. The best businesses are very personal." – Mark Cuban Last month’s article on the darker sides of managing a family business generated a lot of response. Numerous owners of family businesses gave me feedback about the accuracy of my experiences. Given that 80-90% of businesses in the United States are family owned, [...]
"Despite having to contend with internal family tensions on top of the usual work stresses family businesses still outperform non-family businesses. At the end of the day it’s not what they succeed at but the way they succeed that makes the difference." – Jane Hilburt-Davis Thus consultants to family firms, who work with the owners [...]
"In business you get what you want by giving other people what they want." – Alice MacDougall Are you among the business leaders who believe the economy is starting to pick up? Or do you foresee another year or two of tough going for your business? Regardless of where you stand on the subject, chances [...]
"Leadership is creating a future for your organization." – Gordon Sullivan One of the most common problems I see among closely held businesses (actually most businesses) is a lack of clarity: By clarity, I mean the following: 1. Vision: Vision defines what your organization will look like and be doing in three years or so. [...]
"Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility." – Peter Drucker The problems we encounter in closely held businesses often stem from the fact that most of the business owners are experts in a professional discipline but are not trained and experienced businesspeople. They might be engineers, physicians, electricians, attorneys, accountants or [...]