Raising the Next Generation of Leaders

October 13, 2025 - Issue #152

Invite Your Next Gens to Leadership A family business adviser shares how to improve family dynamics to help younger family members get ready for top roles.

Overcoming Dysfunction in the Next Generation The family firm and relationships are at risk when parents overshadow and overprotect their successors. Why tough love matters.

Family Business Leaders' Fear of Failure Can Inhibit Next Gens When parents openly display fear of failing, it can unintentionally portray entrepreneurship as unsafe, undesirable, or even shameful. This doesn't help their successors or the business.

Here Are the Next Gen's Biggest Worries Many want to know where they will fit in the family enterprise; how the wealth will be divided; and how the business will be governed as the family grows in complexity.

From Solo to Team: Helping Siblings Maintain Your Valuable Outside Relationships A leader’s external relationships, built over time, become important ‘social capital’ for the family firm. What happens when a team of siblings takes over?

To Encourage Innovation, Tap the Next Generation of Leaders This article and podcast explore how family businesses can keep products and services relevant and avoid playing catch-up with competitors.

Founders: Let Next-Gens be Entrepreneurial Rania Labaki, a professor at the EDHEC Business School in France and director of its Family Business Center, says that founders must allow their future leaders to have an entrepreneurial spirit.

Succession Planning Should Start Earlier Than You Think It's never too early to plan for succession and get family members ready for leadership. The authors share ideas from research and practice in this video and podcast.

How Family Firms Can Prevent (or Cool Down) Sibling Rivalries Koch Industries, McCain Foods and Robert Mondavi were all roiled by sibling battles. These three strategies will help you prevent it.

Will Your Successors See Themselves as Heirs or Entrepreneurs? Mentoring plays a huge role in shaping how the next generation views the role of family business leader, a study in China shows.

CEOs Who've Been Mentored Achieve Better Financial Results Family firms where the departing CEO has mentored the successor enjoyed stronger return on assets.

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How the Next Generation Can Earn Legitimacy, Respect and Loyalty

Family Business Stories Build a Legacy For the Next Generation

Why Family Businesses Must Mind the (Generation) Gap

Helping Next-Gens Envision Their Family Firm’s Future Success

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Recent

The World is Changing Faster Than Your Strategy

by Torsten Pieper, Claudia Binz Astrachan, Francesco Chirico, and Annika Ehlers / Research Insight

Families that learn to use their cohesion, trust, and long-term orientation as strengths can implement strategies more effectively than their non-family peers, especially in times of uncertainty. Read more...

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...

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

How to Plan for a Successful Succession

by Richard Eisenberg

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

by Benjamin McLarty and Daniel T. Holt

How Three Women Upheld Family Values and Thrived Despite Adversity

by Boyka Simeonova and Mat Hughes