Family Business Consulting

The kaleidoscope of family business life, like family life itself, changes its pattern with each turn of the wheel of life.

Founders age and think about retirement. Successors itch for increased responsibility and control. While problems of succession are the number one concern of most family businesses they are not the only concern. Family businesses are beset with many of the same problems that families are. Communication breaks down, sibling rivalries spring up, sons feel unappreciated by fathers, spouses quarrel over relationships with children, and on and on. Besides producing a toll on the family, these common conflicts affect the bottom line and sometimes result in the failure of the business. Family relationships are the most intense of all human relationships. Established patterns, like old habits, are hard to break. Sometimes the family’s efforts to solve these sticky problems can create worse problems, so that the family winds up with two problems – the original problem and the problem created by trying to solve the original problem.

In my practice as a family business consultant I have encountered three persistent myths that can only perpetuate family business problems:

• Just tell me what I ought to do and I’ll take it from there.
• The answer is in a book.
• If I work hard and mind my own business there won’t be any problem.

The facts are:

• Advice rarely solves problems and sometimes makes them worse.
• If the answer could be found in a book it would have been found a long time ago.
• Hard work is wonderful but “minding your own business” may only perpetuate chronic communication problems in the family.

When I work with a family business I always keep three principles in mind:

• There is no family like this one.
• The problems in the family and the business can be resolved through in-depth understanding.
• The strengths in the family system must be mobilized to resolve the problems.

These principles served me well in my work with thousands of families in psychotherapy. They serve equally well with family businesses experiencing business problems. Family business owners know that hard work got them to where they are today. They come to know that hard work of a different kind – hard work on family relationships – can lead to the solution of family business problems. With this perspective in mind failure is not an option.

FACTS ABOUT FAMILY BUSINESSES AND THEIR PROBLEMS

• Family Businesses make up about 80 to 90% of all US businesses.
• Less than 1/3 of family businesses survive the founder; less than 10% survive through the 3rd generation.
• 90% or more of the problems in family businesses are family relationship problems.
• The average longevity for family businesses is 24 years.
• The healthy thriving family business is usually, but not always, a reflection of an emotionally healthy family.