Practice Insight

Practice insights are articles submitted by practitioners, such as entrepreneurs, consultants, managers, and venture investors. These articles undergo editorial review but are not peer reviewed. 


AI Adoption at Professional Services Firms: Balancing Trust and Tech

Businesses that sell confidential advice can still harness AI to provide the innovative services that clients expect without compromising their personal information. Artificial intelligence (AI) Read More...

Category: Practice Insight

Author: Doug Gray, PhD

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.  Artificial Read More...

Category: Practice Insight

Author: Doug Gray, PhD

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. Every family business has its own way of seeing the world. Some center around a Read More...

Category: Practice Insight

Authors: Tom Rüsen and Monika Nadler

Business Families Must Get Real About Growth and Payouts

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. When we talk to Read More...

Category: Practice Insight

Authors: Joseph Astrachan and George Manners

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

You can support your business through economic uncertainty and maintain unity and commitment.   Multigenerational enterprising families are not easily shaken. Over decades and sometimes Read More...

Category: Practice Insight

Authors: Joseph Astrachan and Claudia Binz Astrachan

The Psychology of Effective Exit Planning: A Guide for Families and Advisors

Family firms can help the next generation move forward by understanding and supporting the emotional aspects of the exit for the current leader. Business advisors widely agree that the biggest Read More...

Category: Practice Insight

Author: Michael Klein

The HERO Model: How Family Enterprise Leaders Can Accelerate Change

Hope, Efficacy, Resilience and Optimism can make us better people and better leaders.  Here's how to cultivate it within ourselves. All leaders and advisors struggle with organizational Read More...

Category: Practice Insight

Author: Doug Gray, PhD

Transferring Family Wealth to the Next Generation: What’s Fair?

Baby Boomers are set to hand down trillions of dollars to younger generations. Family firms must consider how to transfer their ownership shares, and how much goes to whom. Around the world, an aging Read More...

Category: Practice Insight

Authors: Martin Kemp and Susan Lanz

Include the Extended Family in Your Ownership Strategy

Your "owners' strategy" should consider that in the future, the family firm will likely have many more owners. Take a broader focus when you develop it. In the US, most family business advisory firms Read More...

Category: Practice Insight

Authors: Claudia Binz Astrachan and Tom Rüsen

'Yellowstone' Mirrors Real-Life Family Business Dramas

Like many family business leaders, John Dutton struggles to uphold longstanding traditions while external competitive pressures mount and next-gens clamor for change. "Yellowstone" is an American Read More...

Category: Practice Insight

Authors: Robin Burns and Ana Gonzalez