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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Recent

Listening to the Family: The Strategic Value of Surveys

by Claudia Binz Astrachan / Practice Insight

Surveys can reveal differing perspectives, surface hidden tensions, and – when done well – build trust, and serve as an educational opportunity. Read more...

Planning Succession? These 10 Decisions Are Critical

by David Deeds / Applied and Practice

Succession is not a single choice -- It is a chain of choices that interlock and compound. Avoiding any one of them will create friction or ambiguity. Read more...

Family Ownership Can Undermine Financial Health

by Ivan Miroshnychenko, Rui Torres de Oliveira, Alfredo De Massis, and Ruth Überbacher / Research Insight

However, those who invested more in R&D and operated in countries with strong and supportive institutions enjoyed better market capitalizations. Read more...

The 7 Gears of Leadership, And When to Use Each One

by Andrew Keyt and Greg McCann / Applied and Practice

Leaders acquire tremendous human capacities as they rise to the top. Their challenge is to deploy the right strength for each difficult situation. Read more...

by Susan Lanz, Gary Burke, Kajsa Haag, and Omid Omidvar

Let the Next Generation of Family Firm Leaders Chart Their Own Path

by Klaus Lüber and Nadine Kammerlander

How Family Dynamics Shape Family Businesses

by Joseph Astrachan and Claudia Binz Astrachan

How to Plan for a Successful Succession

by Richard Eisenberg

Here Are the Next Gen's Biggest Worries

by Kimberly Eddleston

Employees With Toxic Traits Can Still Be An Asset at Family Firms

by Benjamin McLarty and Daniel T. Holt