Special Issue: Our Best Teaching Advice

September 13, 2021 - Issue #38

Want to Give Your Entrepreneurship Students Real-World Experience? Try Consulting Projects Students gain exposure to the inner-workings of a business, while entrepreneurs receive a fresh perspective, academic insight and assistance.

Future Family Business Owners Can Learn to Manage Conflict This classroom exercise dissects the five approaches to managing disputes, and their likely outcomes.

Team Exercise: How Parenting Styles Affect The Next Generation This experiential exercise is designed to enhance student learning about the four parenting styles and how they affect the dynamics within the family firm.

Confidentiality Agreements Promote Candor in Family Business Classes For students to share their own good and bad family experiences in a family business class, confidentiality is essential.

Real-Life Drama: Creating a TV Series Based on a Family Business From the "director's chair," students illustrate the challenges of the family firm, and what makes a good one.

To Engage Business Students, Roll Out 'the Barrels' A variation of the childhood "choose your own adventure books" improves understanding of succession planning, governance and ethics.

Videos for the Global Family Business Community These are challenging times for family businesses. These videos share best practices that help business owners, professors and students weather the crisis and manage what comes next.

Design Remote Learning to Help Students Feel Connected Done right, online teaching can help students actually engage more with their professors and with one another.

Learn to Defend Your Family Firm This classroom exercise helps future family firm members learn to anticipate outside threats to their business and defend it.

Search & Save Enter search below to create an easy reading list

Designing and Experiencing the Family Business Advisory

Acres of Diamonds: Advantages of Working in Your Family Business

Why Didn’t I Think of That? A Classroom Exercise for Developing Entrepreneurial Thinking

‘SOBs’: The Real Power in Family Businesses

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

Craft Ventures are More Successful With a Couple at the Helm

by Jennifer Woolley and Jo-Ellen Pozner / Research Insight

Family firms take note: A study of chocolate makers showed that shared values, commitment, and a long-term outlook are good for both relationships and business. Read more...

Articles About Relationships, Succession Were Top Draws in 2024

by Kimberly Eddleston and Mat Hughes / Commentary

Many readers wanted advice about handling toxic family relationships, managing succession, and preserving the family’s values over time. Read more...

Hiring Mom and Dad? Optimize Their Strengths and Manage Boundaries

by Kimberly Eddleston / Interviews

Sharon Beck, owner of a Jovie Childcare franchise, shares her insights on the benefits and challenges of being your parents' boss. Read more...

The HERO Model: How Family Enterprise Leaders Can Accelerate Change

by Doug Gray, PhD / Practice Insight

Hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism can make us better people and better leaders. This article explores how we can cultivate it within ourselves. Read more...

by Joseph Astrachan and Claudia Binz Astrachan

Why Families and Their Firms Behave Badly

by Roland Kidwell, Kimberly Eddleston, Linda Kidwell, John Cater, and Ellison Howard

The Paradox of Choice: Wealth's Impact on Family Potential

by Doug Baumoel

How Family Firms Can Prevent (or Cool Down) Sibling Rivalries

by Jonas Ruzek and Kimberly Eddleston

The Biggest Mistakes Family Businesses Make With Their Boards

by Kimberly Eddleston

Family Business Succession Planning: 10 Golden Rules

by Tom Rüsen, Torsten Groth, and Arist von Schlippe