Our Best Advice for the Year Ahead

December 18, 2023 - Issue #104

An Innovation Challenge Can Help Employees Feel More Connected An Innovation Challenge Can Help Employees Feel More Connected A Minneapolis-based firm challenged employee teams to design and build something that would help people in their local community.
Everyday Gratitude in Times of Uncertainty Everyday Gratitude in Times of Uncertainty Gratitude leads to better relationships and encourages loyalty among our colleagues. This popular 2020 article has been updated for today's challenges.
Master Three Perilous Stages of Family Business Transition Master Three Perilous Stages of Family Business Transition Avoiding these minefields before, during, and after succession will help both your business and your relationships. Leave your own thoughts here!  
Keep the Founder's Entrepreneurial Spirit Alive in Future Generations Keep the Founder's Entrepreneurial Spirit Alive in Future Generations While entrepreneurship often creates the family's wealth, making it part of the family culture and legacy is another matter entirely. Here's how.
Generative AI Can Help Family Businesses Innovate and Grow Generative AI Can Help Family Businesses Innovate and Grow Technology can now take care of mundane tasks, and give people more time for satisfying, impactful work that requires creativity, emotional intelligence and empathy.
Why Don't You Educate Your Owners? Why Don't You Educate Your Owners? Everyone agrees that families should train members to become competent owners and stewards of the family business – but few of them actually walk the talk.
Diverse Boards Help Family Businesses Expand Internationally Diverse Boards Help Family Businesses Expand Internationally Pushing into new markets across geographic borders requires a family business to be more focused on possibilities…and this is where boards can make the difference.
How to Avoid Family Business Disasters
How Family Businesses Survive Unexpected ‘Wild Cards’ How Family Businesses Survive Unexpected ‘Wild Cards’ From government upheaval to COVID, Poland has dealt with many devastating events over the past 30 years. Fifteen family firms told us how they survived it all.
Seven Things to Consider Before Selling the Family Firm Seven Things to Consider Before Selling the Family Firm Former family business owners shared their experiences in this panel discussion hosted by the University of St. Thomas's Family Business Center.
Will Your In-Laws Help or Hurt Your Family Business? Will Your In-Laws Help or Hurt Your Family Business? As the Gucci and royal families show, in-laws can complicate things. Here's how family businesses can benefit from their perspectives and minimize conflict.
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It’s Complicated: Managing Succession in Cases of Divorce and Adoption It’s Complicated: Managing Succession in Cases of Divorce and Adoption
How to Weigh the Consequences of Selling the Family Business How to Weigh the Consequences of Selling the Family Business
A Family Illness Can Infect the Business, Too A Family Illness Can Infect the Business, Too
Why PE Firms Want to Buy Your Family Firm (and Change it) Why PE Firms Want to Buy Your Family Firm (and Change it)
Popular Topics
Money
Financing, revenue, profits
Team
Staffing, succession, relationships
Manage
Best practices for running the business
Grow
Increase customers and revenue
Strategy
Making better decisions
Operations
How the best firms run
Recent
Give Future Leaders Exposure to Critical Roles
by Kimberly Eddleston / Interviews

A job rotation program gives next-gens both hands-on experience and a working knowledge of different departments and important outside relationships. Read more...

New Family Business CEOs Must Claim the Seat, Not Just Inherit the Title
by Dr. Benjamin Ritter / Practice Insight

When a successor becomes CEO, the title may change overnight — but authority, identity and trust do not. Next-generation leaders must act like the CEO before they feel like one. Read more...

What Family Businesses in Africa Can Teach Us About Women Leaders
by Jan-Philipp Ahrens, Maria Giuseppina Bruna, Cinzia COLAPINTO, and Salam SAMI / Research Insight

Large family firms in countries such as Ghana, Kenya, and Madagascar show that women’s leadership can thrive when families widen their view of succession. Read more...

When Keeping the Business in the Family No Longer Makes Sense
by Allan Sandham and Isabell Stamm / Research Insight

A study of German family businesses showed that as intra-family succession becomes more difficult, families are increasingly open to selling — and intermediaries are emerging to help match owners with outside buyers. Read more...

Trending
Things to Consider When Transferring Family Business Ownership
by Susan Lanz, Gary Burke, Kajsa Haag, and Omid Omidvar
How Family Dynamics Shape Family Businesses
by Joseph Astrachan and Claudia Binz Astrachan
Let the Next Generation of Family Firm Leaders Chart Their Own Path
by Klaus Lüber and Nadine Kammerlander
5 Practical Tips for Making Business Decisions With Family Members
by Rostyslav Vovk
Why Family Business Founders Struggle to Step Back During Succession
by Paul Edelman
Helping Daughters Become Successful Family Business Leaders
by Simon Caspary and Tom Rüsen
Editorial offices located at St Thomas University

Editorial offices located at St Thomas University

Popular
What Japan's Oldest Businesses Can Teach Us About Longevity
by Peter Vogel
Avoid Legal Minefields When Acquiring Another Company
by Dustin Slade
How to Run a Family Business Successfully
by Kerry Hannon
Outside Leadership Can Save the Family Business
by Robert Sher
The 'Fredo Factor:' How Deadbeats and Troublemakers Hurt Family Businesses
by Kimberly Eddleston
Should I Participate in a Business Accelerator?
by Jon Eckhardt
Supported by the Richard M Schulze Family Foundation

Supported by the Richard M Schulze Family Foundation