Thanks to Doug Gray and FFI Fellow Natalie McVeigh for providing two case studies about how they utilize 360 assessments to provide comprehensive and objective feedback to family business leaders and to evaluate potential next generation successors.

FFI Practitioner is pleased to host Adam Ifshin, CEO of DLC Management, and Rocki-Lee DeWitt, Professor of Management in the Grossman School of Business at the University of Vermont, in a conversation based on their upcoming session at the FFI Global Conference in New York, October 25-27.

With the growing popularity and continued evolution of AI platforms, such as ChatGPT, increased questions have been raised about their ability to complete more complex functions.

Thank you to this week’s contributor, Maria Milanetti, for her article that presents a simplified model for engaging family enterprise clients in an efficient strategic planning process.

This week, Paolo Morosetti explores the complexities involved in the process of selecting the successor in a family enterprise and shares an approach to help your clients answer the fundamental question of whether to select an internal or external successor.

Thanks to the FFI Asian Circle Virtual Study Group and Yirhan Sim for this week’s edition that features a family enterprise case that demonstrates the challenges experienced by the “sandwich generation” through the transition to lead a family enterprise.

Thank you to this week’s contributor, Sajjad Hamid, for his article exploring digital tools that family enterprise advisors can use to expand their practice.

In this week’s issue of FFI Practitioner, Matthew Erskine considers the ways that a prenuptial agreement can be an effective tool for family enterprises not only to protect family assets, but to articulate their philosophy and vision for the family’s future.

This year is the 300th anniversary of notable economist and philosopher Adam Smith’s birth.

Thanks to the FFI Asian Circle Virtual Study Group and Linda Salim for this week’s edition featuring mini-cases on succession planning in three Chinese-Indonesian family enterprises with lessons for advisors around the world.

In this week’s FFI Practitioner, Daniela Montemerlo explores the important role of the board chair in a family enterprise and explains the benefits of appointing two different people to serve as chair and CEO.

In this week’s FFI Practitioner, Paolo Morosetti addresses the topic of family enterprise professionalization.

In this week’s FFI Practitioner, FFI Fellow Lloyd Steier provides an overview of the “liabilities of newness” concept and then uses family business examples to illustrate how the concept can be helpful to practitioners by explaining the family advantage in firm creation, survival, and success.

In this week’s FFI Practitioner, Steve Legler shares his observation that, in some family enterprises, when a generational shift occurs, an existing corporate hierarchy may transform into a less defined and ambiguous structure when the next gen leaders have roughly equivalent managerial roles.

Thank you to this week’s contributor, Ricardo Mejia, for his article exploring how implementing short-term strategic projects can further the alignment of owners and help manage conflict within the family enterprise.

In this week’s edition of FFI Practitioner, FFI Fellow Patricia Annino explores the impact that the sudden death of a family business leader can have on the entire enterprise.

Thank you to this week’s contributor, Luz Leyda Vega-Rosado, for her article exploring a phenomenon she refers to as, “reverse succession.”

Thank you to this week’s contributor, Sajjad Hamid, for his article exploring the Knowledge Solopreneur Development Model.

Thank you to this week’s contributor, Michael Madera, for an article outlining the importance of vertical leadership development in family enterprises. In addition to a brief history lesson, the article explores a variety of ways family enterprise leaders can expand their “sense-making abilities.”

Non-family executives play an important role in a family enterprise – they bring valuable external professional experience to the business and have a unique vantage point of the enterprising family’s dynamics.