Practitioner Perspectives

Family business owners and their advisors spend a lot of time and money seeking to optimize business performance and family relationships. Many useful tools have been developed over the years, including generally accepted “best practices,” such as employment, compensation and succession plans.

I’ve got a special place near my heart for Dan & Whit’s general store in Norwich, Vermont.  

Entrepreneurship in the United States continues to be a major path to wealth creation for individuals and their families.

Entrepreneurs are different from other people. Their talent lies in imagining a new solution or a fresh approach that gives the world something it may not have even realized it needed. Building a successful enterprise from start-up to sustained profitability demands total immersion. 

During the last 50 years, the number and scope of women-owned businesses have risen at a virtually unprecedented rate

‘I’m not sure they’re ready yet.’ Over the last few years, we have become accustomed to hearing this complaint, or others like it, from family business leaders, anxious about who from the next generation will follow in their footsteps as stewards.

Most articles or speeches about family businesses start with some version of the “three-generation rule,” which suggests that most don’t survive beyond three generations. 

The HBR Family Business Handbook brings sophisticated guidance and practical advice from family business experts Josh Baron, adjunct professor, Columbia Business School, and Rob Lachenauer.

ESG investing is here to stay.