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This issue is the third in our series of “Articles We Love,” curated by GEN faculty members. This week Rodolfo Paiz, GEN 202 faculty member and FFI Fellow, has chosen the articles. He has twenty-five years of consulting experience and is CEO of a family-run business, and his choices cover a broad range of topics.
If you have not participated in the FFI Certificate Program, now might be the time! All courses are offered each quarter. For more information, go to www.ffigen.org.
Launch Your Newsletter: Become A Digital Family Enterprise Advisor
By Sajjad Hamid
Rodolfo Paiz: Sajjad Hamid’s article is thought-provoking (and skills-developing) for practitioners, because our world is changing quickly. Whether it’s generative AI, digital marketing and content creation, new tools and techniques, fintech, or anything else, let us all be clear that less than 20% of us will still be on the leading edge ten years from now, while the other 80% will be left behind. It is worthwhile for practitioners to ask themselves, “What am I doing to stay in that leading 20%?”
Family Offices Around the World: A Conversation with Mary Duke, Aik-Ping Ng, and Peter Vogel
RP: This podcast conversation about the future of family offices worldwide is a wonderful example of different viewpoints coming together to spark thought, conversation, and debate. Enterprising families may choose to implement family offices differently, and each advisor brings to the table different experiences that can help client families weave a more beautiful tapestry of their life together.
Getting It ‘Just Right’: The Goldilocks Zone of Family Board Involvement in Family Firms
By Peter Jaskiewicz, James G. Combs, Klaus Uhlenbruck, Amlan Datta, and Katrina Barclay
RP: It’s exceedingly hard to get good data on family enterprises, even if we stick to publicly-traded entities—and frequently those entities are vastly different from privately-traded companies. I applaud the curious and exploratory approach with which this article seeks ideas that can reasonably be considered best practices. Practitioners may disagree on the best practices, and in any case a general best practice may not be optimal for a given family, but the search is nevertheless a treasure in itself.
Measuring Performance in Family Enterprises: An Interview with Sir Andrew Likierman
RP: I enjoyed how this podcast interview with Andrew Likierman explores measuring performance, one of the topics that family advisors and family business leaders cherish despite the myths to the contrary. And don’t miss Andrew’s book, Judgement at Work, which I highly recommend.
Curiosity as a Practice: Lessons from Japan and Beyond
By Doutzen Grootof and Don Opatrny
RP: I believe that all advisors have a duty to be curious and constant learners about different cultures so they can be more effective as advisors. What is common or best in one culture may be counterproductive in another. In GEN 202 I recommend approaching situations and challenges with a spirit of curiosity, and encourage advisors to travel, learn languages, and become more multicultural. This article encourages all three with a combination of clarity and elegance that I’m delighted to recommend.
About the Contributor
Rodolfo Paiz, FFI Fellow, GEN Faculty member, and Founder/CEO at Fidelius, has been the senior consultant to some of the most complex families in the Americas for almost twenty-five years. He’s also the 2022 FFI International Award recipient, a former FFI board and editorial committee member, and publisher of Family Business Is Better on Substack. He can be reached at rodolfo@fidelius.com.
View this edition in our enhanced digital edition format with supporting visual insight and information.
