Finding the right successor to a well-loved founder or president is often the most difficult task an organization faces-and the challenge is even greater for family-run businesses. From mom-and-pop grocery stores to vast multinationals, family-owned companies dominate the worldwide business landscape, yet surprisingly few are successfully passed down from one generation to the next, and fewer still reach the third generation intact. Author Ivan Lansberg, an organizational psychologist who grew up in a family business, explores the reasons behind this high failure rate, and reveals the conditions that allow family businesses to endure through the generations. Family enterprises are highly personal, says Lansberg, and many elaborate succession plans are thwarted because deeper psychological factors are overlooked. Lansberg stresses the need for families to share a common "dream" for their company, much like a business has a unified mission. Succeeding Generations helps us to understand all aspects-the practical and the emotional-of the succession process, as Lansberg offers advice on how to mentor successors, how to set up a systematic selection process, and how to make the best use of the board of directors during times of transition. He also provides the first clear assessment of the different options, from direct successions between a parent and a single appointed heir to more complex partnerships between siblings and cousins. With a wealth of examples from companies in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, Succeeding Generations provides a thoughtful and comprehensive look at the sensitive dynamics of leadership succession in family businesses. Planning for continuity is a life-long process for families in business, and Succeeding Generations is the first book to provide in-depth answers to the questions that arise at every stage in the evolution of the family firm.

SHIFT your Family Business was written for anyone who has ever worked in a family business or been part of a business family. Steve Legler grew up in one such family, and married into another, and in this, his first book, he examines the challenges that business families face, and gives readers lots of insights and ideas to help them face and overcome those challenges. Since clear, frequent, and open communication is the key to getting out of difficult situations, he walks readers through the steps of: (1) getting important conversations Started (2) getting Help from others to facilitate the discussions (3) Investing the time and effort necessary to gain the momentum to keep going (4) remaining Flexible with all their ideas and plans (5) Talking everything out to gain as much understanding and consensus as possible. He concludes with some thoughts that demystify governance, and invites business families to take on a "family office" mindset to stay focused and on track. SHIFT your Family Business is all about helping business families create the harmony they need to support the legacy they want.

Navigate the complex decisions and critical relationships necessary to create and sustain a healthy family business—and business family. Though "family business" may sound like it refers only to mom-and-pop shops, businesses owned by families are among the most significant and numerous in the world. But surprisingly few resources exist to help navigate the unique challenges you face when you share the executive suite, financial statements, and holidays. How do you make the right decisions, critical to the long-term survival of any business, with the added challenge of having to do so within the context of a family? The HBR Family Business Handbook brings you sophisticated guidance and practical advice from family business experts Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer. Drawing on their decades-long experience working closely with a wide range of family businesses of all sizes around the world, the authors present proven methods and approaches for communicating effectively, managing conflict, building the right governance structures, and more. In the HBR Family Business Handbook you'll find: A new perspective on what makes family businesses succeed and fail A framework to help you make good decisions together Step-by-step guidance on managing change within your business family Key questions about wealth, unique to family businesses, that you can't afford to ignore Assessments to help you determine where you are—and where you want to go Stories of real companies, from Marchesi Antinori to Radio Flyer Chapter summaries you can use to reinforce what you've learned Keep this comprehensive guide with you to help you build, grow, and position your family business to thrive across generations. HBR Handbooks provide ambitious professionals with the frameworks, advice, and tools they need to excel in their careers. With step-by-step guidance, time-honed best practices, and real-life stories, each comprehensive volume helps you to stand out from the pack—whatever your role.

The challenge faced by family businesses and their stakeholders, is to recognise the issues that they face, understand how to develop strategies to address them and more importantly, to create narratives, or family stories that explain the emotional dimension of the issues to the family. The most intractable family business issues are not the business problems the organisation faces, but the emotional issues that compound them. Applying psychodynamic concepts will help to explain behaviour and will enable the family to prepare for life cycle transitions and other issues that may arise. Here is a new understanding and a broader perspective on the human dynamics of family firms with two complementary frameworks, psychodynamic and family systematic, to help make sense of family-run organisations. Although this book includes a conceptual section, it is first and foremost a practical book about the real world issues faced by business families. The book begins by demonstrating that many years of achievement through generations can be destroyed by the next, if the family fails to address the psychological issues they face. By exploring cases from famous and less well known family businesses across the world, the authors discuss entrepreneurs, the entrepreneurial family and the lifecycles of the individual and the organisation. They go on to show how companies going through change and transition can avoid the pitfalls that endanger both family and company. The authors then apply tools that will help family businesses in transition and offer their analyses and conclusions. Readers should draw their own conclusions from careful examination of the cases, identifying the problems or dilemmas faced and the options for improved business performance and family relationships. They should ask what they might have done in the given situation and what new insight into individual or family behaviour each case offers. The goal is to avoid a bitter ending.

FAMILY BUSINESS, 3e, INTERNATIONAL EDITION provides the next generation of family business owners with the knowledge and skills needed for the successful management and leadership of the family enterprise. The author, Ernesto Poza, uses both text and cases to explore a diverse set of family firms, examining the interrelationships between the owners, the family, and the management team. FAMILY BUSINESS, 3e, INTERNATIONAL EDITION at its core, is a practical book that presents management and family practices to model success as well as an honest look at the advantages and challenges facing family enterprises. With an emphasis on leadership and positioning for the future, FAMILY BUSINESS, 3e, INTERNATIONAL EDITION illustrates how the family enterprise can achieve sustained growth and continuity through generations.

The authors explore how effective planning and communication helps business families around the world address growth challenges as they strive to become high performing multi-generation family enterprises. This book shows family businesses working together at their best.