Our Latest Articles

June 16, 2025 - Issue #144

Unready and Unadvised: The Silent Crisis in Family Wealth Transfer A study of 13,500 family firms shows that nearly half of heirs don’t know where the assets are -- and 3 in 5 wouldn’t know what to do if the founder died suddenly.

When Family Businesses Should Think Like Private Equity Firms Adopting all or even some PE investor strategies can add value and enhance competitiveness, especially when a successor takes over or the company may be sold.

The Emotional Downside of Exiting Your Business While the money is nice, selling a business is not a happily ever after. Depression is not uncommon.

A Family Council Can Help Larger Families Stay Connected Consider one if your family business has 15 or more relatives involved, or multiple generations.

AI Adoption in Family Business: Balancing Trust and Tech Using AI can be risky in settings where confidentiality is key, but it can be indispensable in developing innovative services that clients expect. Here's how to harness it safely.

A New Way to Resolve Extreme Conflict in Family Businesses Family members may feel “trapped” in conflicts, unable to resolve substantive issues without damaging their familial relationships. This often leads to disputes that persist for decades.

Merging With Another Family Firm is Safer and Smarter Family business mergers enjoy greater harmony and better financial performance than mergers involving non-family firms.

Your Family’s Mental Model Might Be Fueling Its Conflicts Different ways of thinking shape how families make decisions, resolve tensions, and pass leadership across generations.

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More Than an Entrepreneur: How Best Buy Founder Dick Schulze Saves Lives

Learning to Let Go of a Startup

Family Leaders: Can Your Business Still Sail Without You?

5 Practical Tips for Making Business Decisions With Family Members

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Recent

Nonfamily CEOs Are Most Vulnerable in the Middle Stage of Their Tenure

by Wei Shen, Cecilia Gu, and Lin-Hua Lu / Research Insight

Family businesses tend to give all CEOs time to prove themselves, but are tougher on outsiders who don’t deliver results after a few years. Read more...

Can a Female CEO Lead to More Diversity at the Top?

by Paola Rovelli and Marco Mismetti / Research Insight

At family firms, decisions are often shaped by traditions, preferences, or informal dynamics that are not easy to override, even for the CEO. Read more...

Business Families Must Get Real About Growth and Payouts

by Joseph Astrachan and George Manners / Practice Insight

Sometimes the family grows much faster than the business, especially in saturated markets. This has deep implications for how we manage family and business expectations. Read more...

Tariffs, Turmoil, and Family Tiffs: Navigating the Current Chaos

by Joseph Astrachan and Claudia Binz Astrachan / Practice Insight

You can support your business through economic uncertainty and maintain unity and commitment. Read more...

by Ritch Sorenson

Consumers Love Local Brands. That's Good News For Family Businesses

by Philipp Jaufenthaler, Andreas Kallmuenzer, Sascha Kraus, and Alfredo De Massis

Outside Leadership Can Save the Family Business

by Robert Sher

How to Run a Family Business Successfully

by Kerry Hannon

How Family Dynamics Shape Family Businesses

by Joseph Astrachan and Claudia Binz Astrachan