Reflections on the Soul of Family Business
Thank you to this week’s contributor, Tom Hubler, for reflecting on his more than thirty-five years as a family business consultant and sharing some valuable insights he’s gained during that time. We hope you enjoy reading about Tom’s experience and learning about what he refers to as the “soul” of family businesses.
Deviance in the Family Business: An interview with Kim Eddleston and Roland Kidwell
For this week’s edition, we are excited to share an interview between Russ Haworth, host of the Family Business Podcast, and Kim Eddleston and Roland Kidwell about their presentation at the upcoming FFI Global Conference. Their presentation is titled “The Diversity of Deviance: How breaking the rules can hurt (and help) families and family firms,” which will address the different types and outcomes of deviance as well as covering how to use deviance in the family and family firm to improve performance.
Conversation-Starting Articles to Share with your Clients
One of the primary goals of FFI Practitioner is to provide readers with thought-provoking and practical articles to improve the services they offer to their family enterprise clients and the field in general. To further this mission, this week, we are pleased to feature a selection of articles addressing common topics, across disciplines, that can be used as examples or conversation starters with clients.
For Love and Money: Married leaders of family firms
Do married couples make the most effective leaders of family firms? According to research conducted by this week’s contributor, Isabelle Le Breton-Miller of HEC Montréal, firms owned and run by married couples tend to outperform their competition. We hope you enjoy this edition that examines the potential advantages that married copreneurs can bring to a family enterprise.
Mid-Autumn Festival: Lessons for family businesses
We hope you’ve been enjoying the month-long FFI Practitioner series dedicated to the theme of “Reflections,” which concludes this week with a piece by Paul Chung and Chin Chin Koh. In this article, the contributors reflect on the ancient Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival and explore its parallels to family enterprise.
Reflections on the Study of 100-Year Family Enterprises: An interview with Dennis Jaffe
The month-long FFI Practitioner series dedicated to the theme of “Reflections” continues this week with a very special interview with Dennis Jaffe, author of the recent working paper titled, “Resilience of 100-Year Family Enterprises: How Opportunistic Innovation, Business Discipline, and a Culture of Stewardship Guide the Journey Across Generations.” In this interview, hosted by Russ Haworth, Dennis reflects on some of the key takeaways from his study of nearly one hundred successful family enterprises.
In the Land of Giants: Redefining Rites of Passage
The month-long FFI Practitioner series of pieces relating to the theme of “Reflections” continues this week with an article by the co-chair of FFI Practitioner editorial committee, Jamie Weiner. In this article, Jamie reflects on his own experience growing up with a father who was a “giant” in his community and explores the importance of creating rites of passage for next gen family business members to create their own identity and find their voice when succeeding a parent who is a “giant.”
A Rose by Any Other Name: Family firm terminology as divider or unifier?
Thank you to Patricia Angus of the FFI Practitioner editorial committee for kicking off a month-long series of editions relating to the theme of “Reflections.” In this week’s edition, Patricia reflects on the complexities of defining some key terminology in the field. In upcoming weeks, we’re excited to continue this reflective theme with pieces by Jamie Weiner, Ken Moores, Paul Chung and Chin Chin Koh, and an interview with Dennis Jaffe. We hope you enjoy the series!
How to Act with Family Businesses: An interview with Mark Bagnall
How can learning the skills required by an actor make you a more effective adviser with your clients? Listen to this week’s interview with Mark Bagnall, a skilled stage performer and “artist-in-residence” for the 2018 FFI Global Conference to learn more about how you can utilize these skills to become a better adviser. Thank you to Russ Haworth, host of the Family Business Podcast, for interviewing Mark and giving us a sneak peek of what to expect from Mark’s sessions in October.
Decision-Making Processes in Family Businesses in Latin America
The decision-making process within a family business can be one of the most complex issues confronting consultants when working with a client. This week, we’re fortunate to share an article from Luis Medina, where he examines these complex processes within the context of Latin American family businesses.
Unmasking Imagination and Creativity: An interview with Charlotte Dillon and Oliver Hallam
How can advisers utilize the creative process and even mask-making to help family businesses address and resolve conflict? For this week’s edition, we are thrilled to share an interview between Russ Haworth, host of the Family Business Podcast, and Charlotte Dillon and Oliver Hallam about their presentation at the upcoming FFI Global Conference. Their presentation is titled “Unmasking Imagination and Creativity” and will be a mask-making workshop to explore how creativity can mediate family business solutions.
The Exercise of Power in the Family Business
This week’s FFI Practitioner continues a series of articles written by members of the FFI IberoAmerican Virtual Study Group that are available in both English and Spanish. Thanks to Miguel Angel Gallo and Begoña Pereira-Otero for their examination of what constitutes an appropriate exercise of power by family business owners. We hope you enjoy this article in either (or both) languages!
The Future of the Three-Circle Model: A conversation between Pramodita Sharma and John Davis
This week’s FFI Practitioner concludes our two-part series commemorating the 40th anniversary of the influential Three-Circle Model. Thank you to FFI Fellows Pramodita Sharma and John Davis for sharing their insightful conversation about future the future of the model, research, and the field.
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Three-Circle Model: An interview with John Davis
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the legendary Three-Circle Model, FFI Practitioner is excited to share two editions about the model during the month of June. For the first edition, we’d like to thank Pramodita Sharma for her interview about the inception and impact of the model on the field with one of its two creators, John Davis.
Debunking (again) the Dis-continuity Myth
Thanks to Sylvain Daudel of Stetson University for adding to several provocative FFI Practitioner articles on the topic of generational transition! He argues that the paradigm is wrong — it’s not about longevity but about value creation.
Trust Owned Family Enterprises: Pitfalls and practical suggestions when naming trustees who also serve on Board of Directors: A case study
This week, FFI Practitioner examines the complicated situation occurring when the family enterprise is owned in trust and the trustees simultaneously serve on the Board of Directors. Thank you to Patricia Annino for exploring the numerous issues and conflicts that can arise through the following case study.
Research Applied: FBR Précis for FFI Practitioner
Among the unique characteristics differentiating family enterprises from their non-family counterparts is that family-owned businesses are much more driven by nonfinancial social and emotional motivators. In this week’s edition, Kim Schneider Malek explores the research that has been conducted on socioemotional wealth through her précis of “More Than Meets the Eye: A Review and Future Directions for the Social Psychology of Socioemotional Wealth,” an article appearing the March 2018 issue of FBR.
Lessons on Governance: Pruning the Tree or Inclusion
For family businesses, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to governance and advisers need to understand each family’s unique values and ownership philosophies before attempting to implement specific governance structures. Thanks to Marta Widz and Benoît Leleux from IMD for illustrating this point by sharing two cases where the family businesses have divergent ownership philosophies but have both excelled in their governance practices.
Perceived Self-Interest in the Family Business: An interview with Kirsten Taylor-Martin
For this week’s FFI Practitioner, we are excited to share an interview with Kirsten Taylor-Martin about a major piece of research recently conducted by Grant Thornton. The interview, which includes useful tips and insights for advisers working with next gen family members, was actually conducted by a next gen member of Kirsten’s family - her daughter, Angelina Martin!
Differentiation Through Family Business Brands
Whether or not to highlight the involvement of the family in the business’ branding as a means of differentiating the business from its competition, is a question that confronts many family-owned businesses. In this week’s FFI Practitioner, Isabel Botero and Tomasz Fediuk explore both sides of this issue and share three central aspects of family business branding.