One of my clients, a non-family CEO of a substantial family business, sometimes describes his own mindset toward business decisions in terms of scarcity and abundance. When he’s in scarcity mode, he finds himself thinking of a particular issue or transaction as a zero-sum game. He begins to hoard opportunities, to be defensive and paranoid about others’ motives. Recognizing his mindset, he has learned to stop himself and think instead in terms of abundance. By envisioning multiple mutually-positive potential outcomes—opportunities for win-win solutions—he finds he is more creative and more open to possibility.
Investing in Possibility: An IPS for Human Capital
Investment Policy Statements. Asset allocation. Portfolio reviews. Investors have developed sophisticated systems that enable them to choose among investment options and manage and track the performance of their Financial Capital. These systems enable investors to create detailed plans, identify opportunities and weaknesses, and monitor performance. But, what about Human Capital?
Sore Winners
Say you and your family own a business together, and you’re trying to make a major decision. You agree to take a vote. That’s fair, right?
When it comes to fairness in decision-making, it’s a two-part analysis: For a decision to be considered fair, the participants must believe that both the outcome of the vote and the process by which it was conducted are fair.
Consensus, Super Majority, Majority: Why Voting Thresholds Matter
Much is being made about Senate voting thresholds in the press these days. When can the Senate act by simple majority? When must there be a super majority of 60 votes rather than 51? More relevant to our purposes: what do the sometimes-arcane voting rules of the U.S. Senate have to do with family business decision-making?
More than you might think…
An Introduction to Building Your Family Business Forums
How do you create a Board of Directors? A Family Assembly? What about an Owners Council or Beneficiary Council? What will they do? Who will be on them? Well run forums are a significant asset when making major decisions and for aligning stakeholders across the enterprise system, but many families don’t fully utilize them. Learn how you might start to put forums to work in your family enterprise in this practical article.
Succession Challenges: Lean Management and Silos
Aligning Shared Purpose and Strategy
When so much of the business world’s discussion space is filled with hot topics such as “unicorns,” “disruptors,” “private equity,” and “exits,” it is easy to see why family business owners may feel out of step with trends in business strategy. These trends come and go (think: matrixed organization, vertical integration, synergy, virtual corporation), but for at least some family business owners, the sense of disconnection is perpetual.
The reason: Shared Purpose drives strategy
A New Approach to Family Business Governance: The Concept of Intention
In family business governance, structures like an owners’ council are of benefit as a family and their business become more complex over time. This begs the question, however, what should the council do?
The concept of Intention offers an innovative approach to answering this question, one that is firmly rooted in the realistic view that governance structures need to be designed in the image of the owning family.
Robert's Rules of Order: How Procedure can Unlock Effectivity
Have you ever been in a meeting that felt aimless or got out of control? Do you wish your board of directors or owners council meetings were more organized? For family businesses looking to formalize their enterprise by developing a clearer process for meetings and decision-making, there is a time-tested architecture: Robert’s Rules of Order.
How to Build a Board (and Keep it from Running Away with your Business)
A board of directors is often promoted as a critical tool for growing family businesses—and rightly so. A well-constructed board can bring new thinking and perspective, better deliberation, along with expertise and experience that the business needs to grow and achieve its vision of success.
But boards are not a magic elixir, either. when the owners fail to communicate their vision—their direction—for the future of the business, there is a real possibility that the board’s well-intentioned efforts will veer off course, destroying capital the family has worked for years to create.
From Meddling to Leadership
What is the measure of success for a multi-generational family business? Who should decide which path to take? are we learning the right lessons? and what is the balance between meddling and leading?
Amelia Renkert-Thomas answers these questions and discusses why public company models are not good guides for family business owners.