Our Latest Articles
//February 16, 2026 - Issue #160
Will Your Nonfamily Employees Defend Your Business? A stewardship climate, where employees feel trusted and truly valued, mobilizes nonfamily employees to defend the family firm against reputational threats. 
The 11 Digital Warning Signs of Conflict Escalation in Business Families Digital communication speeds up family business decisions—but it also accelerates conflict. Based on 100+ pages of real emails and texts, here are 11 signs that an all-out brawl is coming.
Editor's Pick
Sherri Noxel
'Letting Go'
Oregon winery entrepreneur Susan Sokol Blosser is one of the founders of Oregon’s wine industry and a prolific writer. In “Letting Go” she captured the very personal and painful journey of exiting a family business that she founded. It’s the type of honest book about succession that is hard to find. Her first book, “Gracious and Ruthless: Surprising Strategies for Business Success,” shares her point of view as a woman founder in a traditionally male industry.
http://www.susansokolblosser.com
How Families Shape Successor Motivation—and the Firm’s Long-Term Direction Family firms don’t have goals—people do. The rise and fall of Italy's Florio dynasty shows how successor motivation shapes the balance between growth, legacy, and community—and how families can build more durable, values-led leadership.
How Families Can Re-Engage Reluctant Successors Without Pressure Successors recommit when roles align with their values, skills, and life stage—and when family dynamics allow earlier experiences to be reinterpreted.
Buying a Business Means Inheriting Its Stakeholders The former owner’s relationships with employees, suppliers, and customers can be a tough act to follow -- and affect value creation long after the deal closes.
What Nonfamily Managers Need From Family Firm Leaders Vision matters—but so does individualized consideration. This study shows nonfamily managers perform better when CEOs pair transformational leadership with genuine, personalized attention and political skill.
Family Offices Are Expanding Their Role As family attitudes towards wealth, purpose, and legacy evolve, their offices are doing more than just managing wealth, a study shows.
You're Adding a Board of Directors. Is Your Management Team Ready? A Ukraine-based family business installed a board to provide structure as it scaled globally. Here's how the owners overcame top managers' fears and won their support. 
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...
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...
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...
Founder resistance is often more complicated than control. Empathy can help families understand what founders are trying to protect — and what their continued involvement may be preventing. Read more...
Editorial offices located at St Thomas University
Supported by the Richard M Schulze Family Foundation