Learning in the Classroom and Beyond
//August 21, 2023 - Issue #96
Family Business Professors: 34 Ways to Energize Your Class These free classroom exercises, interviews and other resources will add new energy, fun and inspiration to your students' course work.
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.
Videos for the Global Family Business Community These videos share best practices that help business owners, professors and students become more resilient. 
Learning How Family Business Leaders Make Decisions Through Interviews This exercise allows students to apply core family business concepts to a real-world business context, reinforcing their grasp of the course materials.
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.
What All Family Businesses Can Learn From the Merck Family The Germany-based global health care, pharmaceutical and performance materials firm has kept its vast family ownership team aligned for 13 generations.
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. 
Developing Competent Owners and Stewards for a Lasting Family Business Educating family members to become such competent, responsible stewards of the family enterprise is a responsibility, and not a choice.
Assessments Can Help Develop Family Business Leaders From simple surveys or interviews to complex, statistically robust reporting, assessments give current and future leaders a source of objective data for better decision-making.
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
Recent
Define Your Legacy, and Strengthen Your Business and Your Impact
by Matthew Fox, Kimberly Wade-Benzoni, and Jeffrey Covin
/ Research Insight
Unless you clearly define what you want your legacy to be, your successors will interpret it in their own way -- and it might not be what you intended. Read more...
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...
Trending
Things to Consider When Transferring Family Business Ownership
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
Here Are the Next Gen's Biggest Worries
by Kimberly Eddleston
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 Family Dynamics Shape Family Businesses
by Joseph Astrachan and Claudia Binz Astrachan
Editorial offices located at St Thomas University
Popular
Consumers Love Local Brands. That's Good News For Family Businesses
by Philipp Jaufenthaler, Andreas Kallmuenzer, Sascha Kraus, and Alfredo De Massis
Why Families and Their Firms Behave Badly
by Roland Kidwell, Kimberly Eddleston, Linda Kidwell, John Cater, and Ellison Howard
A Charismatic Family Business Founder Can Be a Tough Act to Follow
by Kimberly Eddleston
How to Run a Family Business Successfully
by Kerry Hannon
Should I Participate in a Business Accelerator?
by Jon Eckhardt
Supported by the Richard M Schulze Family Foundation