What I Believe

My strong belief is that family businesses and family offices are, first and foremost, families. Without question, the relationships within families primarily dictate the success or failure of their collective business or joint project.

With this belief, the issues of governance, leadership, career development, mentorship, succession, estate planning etc. are issues of personal interaction of each individual within the family and the family as a whole. Regardless of the brilliance of any business, succession or financial plan, in a family business the execution is fraught with the emotionality of the individuals involved.

As all of us, very often, family members are too close to their dynamics to make sense of them or unaware of their contributions to the present conflict or impasse. Since families run family businesses, the historic and entrenched personalities, perspectives and patterns of that family cannot be ignored. The biggest mistake most families make is assuming that present struggles do not have an historic context. Whatever childhood issues one has had in connection to their role, or perceived treatment, in their family, those feelings will have a direct impact on their present interactions and reactions whether those issues are positive or negative. The first attempts at healing these issues is to construct policies and structures which too often are then sabotaged by the unresolved issues.

Whether a family, or individual members of the family, are in conflict, or feel the quality of their interactions could be improved, I have the professional experience and expertise to aid in reaching positive, constructive solutions.