I recently read an article on how Sunday night is the new Monday morning. The article stated, “In 2014, 32 percent of workers polled by Gallup said their employers generally expect them to check e-mail and stay in touch remotely outside of normal business hours.” In our experience, family members take special advantage of that. This makes […]
1. RAISING CHILDREN WITH ENTITLEMENT The easiest way to wreck a family enterprise is to raise the next generation with a sense of entitlement. Entitlement starts at an early age when parents provide their kids with not only all their “needs” but with all their “wants” as well. So what are the kids to expect? […]
Have you ever lost your cool? Have you ever let you emotions run wild? We’ve been reading Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves. It’s a follow up on several prior books on the topic of Emotional Intelligence and serves as a practical guide with specific strategies on how we can heighten our […]
What is advice? Is it coaching, mentoring, teaching, support or criticism? How is it best given and how is it best received? Dina Gerdeman’s article called Advice on Advice, references the writings and research of David Garvin and Joshua Margolis which explore the topic in depth. Many of us believe that the ability to give […]
The time to start planning for succession is not on the way home from the funeral. According to a recent article in Forbes, early planning bodes well for succession of family businesses. As the article points out, it’s more than gifting or selling equity to the next generation. It’s about helping the next gen understand […]
Every few years, our family has (or at least tries to have) what we call a “Dress Rehearsal.” It’s an event where, together with my wife and our adult children, we meet with our independent financial advisors, and sometimes with our attorney. The announcement is made that Mom and Dad are in Africa and were […]
I was recently working with a client who was struggling to make some strategic decisions in his company. He had recently taken over his family’s business and, like many family businesses, there is a history of family dynamics which is causing them to contemplate the future direction of the organization. This got me thinking about […]