Family firms are to be found in every sector of commercial activity. Commitment, family values and pride in the business are typically their special strengths, yet they also face major challenges in reconciling the needs of the business with those of the family. Drawing on the author's extensive experience of working with and advising some of the world's most successful business families, this new and updated edition of Family Enterprises: The Essentials explains the pitfalls, tensions and competing demands that destroy too many family businesses. These problems can be avoided, and Peter Leach reveals the techniques and strategies needed to do so. Running a successful family business is always a huge challenge, but this book offers real insight and guidance on how to keep both business and family united and buoyant.

A thorough explanation of how family enterprises work The family enterprise, whether an operating business, a family office, or both, is the backbone of the US and international economies. These enterprises cut across industries and geographies and can be first-generation entrepreneurial companies or multi-generational businesses with family offices. This book offers a foundation in and understanding of how family enterprises work, including working definitions and the key characteristics of family enterprises, as well as useful concepts for working with and in family enterprises, either as a professional or as a family member. Written by the experts at the Family Firm Institute, a global network of professionals, educators, researchers, and owners of family enterprises An ideal resource for professionals in law, finance, management, and behavioral science, family office and fund managers, and others interested in an multidisciplinary approach to this field

FAMILY BUSINESS, 3e, INTERNATIONAL EDITION provides the next generation of family business owners with the knowledge and skills needed for the successful management and leadership of the family enterprise. The author, Ernesto Poza, uses both text and cases to explore a diverse set of family firms, examining the interrelationships between the owners, the family, and the management team. FAMILY BUSINESS, 3e, INTERNATIONAL EDITION at its core, is a practical book that presents management and family practices to model success as well as an honest look at the advantages and challenges facing family enterprises. With an emphasis on leadership and positioning for the future, FAMILY BUSINESS, 3e, INTERNATIONAL EDITION illustrates how the family enterprise can achieve sustained growth and continuity through generations.

Very few enterprising families focus on building an owner’s mindset in family members. They are busy working and growing their enterprises (rightly so), which prioritizes and values the management role over the ownership role. Many rising generation family members do not choose the path of ownership but are simply born into it. Given these typical patterns, it is not surprising that there is little focus on valuing and building an educated owner to steward the family’s assets for future generations. This book serves as a resource and support tool to help enterprising families learn and develop thoughtful, capable ownership by investing in and nurturing an owner's mindset. This includes building “ownership literacy,” along with a genuine sense of stewardship. It offers a learning structure and approach for each stage of an owner’s development across the lifespan (from earliest years to retirement), taking into consideration the lifecycle stages of the family. The authors make clear that ownership development shouldn’t be confined to earlier ages; any owner at any age can gain ownership-related perspective and skills that can contribute to greater family harmony and business success. The book provides enterprising families and their advisors with examples and practical advice for the promotion of knowledge, skills, and capabilities that incorporate a broad range of topics spanning from personal and interpersonal, to leadership and wealth, to business, ownership, and financial.

Inside the Multi-Generational Family Business is an inside look at how familial relationships affect the success or the failure of the family business. Many family business owners encounter conflict between siblings, children, and other relatives—especially when they're all involved with the business. The author’s message is simple: family businesses today are saddled with “generational stack-up,” or the convergence of several generations as owners, managers, employees, and shareholders, often without even knowing it. Each generation has its own work style, biases, and approach to money and business. Through detailed analysis of the various generations and the characteristics that define them in the family business, a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of the family in the family business can move the multi-generational family business from chaos and conflict to true collaboration and improved performance.

An exceptional new work on family business, showing how to maintain a balanced relationship between the family and the company, and ensure satisfactory business results. This roadmap helps the reader to build better managed and more stable family firms.

SHIFT your Family Business was written for anyone who has ever worked in a family business or been part of a business family. Steve Legler grew up in one such family, and married into another, and in this, his first book, he examines the challenges that business families face, and gives readers lots of insights and ideas to help them face and overcome those challenges. Since clear, frequent, and open communication is the key to getting out of difficult situations, he walks readers through the steps of: (1) getting important conversations Started (2) getting Help from others to facilitate the discussions (3) Investing the time and effort necessary to gain the momentum to keep going (4) remaining Flexible with all their ideas and plans (5) Talking everything out to gain as much understanding and consensus as possible. He concludes with some thoughts that demystify governance, and invites business families to take on a "family office" mindset to stay focused and on track. SHIFT your Family Business is all about helping business families create the harmony they need to support the legacy they want.