The Biggest Mistakes Family Businesses Make With Their Boards

The Biggest Mistakes Family Businesses Make With Their Boards
Category: Interviews
Published: March 15, 2023
Updated: November 14, 2023
Views: 95149
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Family business researcher, lecturer, and advisor Claudia Binz Astrachan has studied first-hand how effective boards of directors steer family business management towards strategies that make the firm stronger. Through her consultancy, Generation6, she coaches companies on how to choose board members and how to work with them for maximum impact.

In this frank interview with familybusiness.org Editor Kimberly Eddleston, Astrachan talks about the biggest mistakes she sees families make in how they choose board members and how they interact with them.  These mistakes include putting mostly family and friends on the board and overlooking independent outsiders with unbiased points of view; ignoring good advice from their board or giving extra weight to the loudest voices; and overloading agendas so that nothing gets done.  Astrachan also discusses the four practices that encourage family business leadership and boards to work well together.


Kimberly Eddleston
Kimberly Eddleston
Schulze Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship / D'Amore-McKim School of Business / Northeastern University
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Cite this Article
DOI: 10.32617/897-6412033b7280c
Eddleston, Kimberly. "The Biggest Mistakes Family Businesses Make With Their Boards." FamilyBusiness.org. 15 Mar. 2023. Web 12 Oct. 2024 <https://familybusiness.org/content/The-biggest-mistakes-family-businesses-make-with-their-boards>.
Eddleston, K. (2023, March 15). The biggest mistakes family businesses make with their boards. FamilyBusiness.org. Retrieved October 12, 2024, from https://familybusiness.org/content/The-biggest-mistakes-family-businesses-make-with-their-boards