Claudia Binz Astrachan
Family Business Editor
Reviewer - FB.org
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Authored Resources
Successful Successions are Never Smooth
102798 viewsThe people involved expect the conflict, view it as natural and do not let it get in the way of things. Here are four tips for the big handoff.
COVID-19: Understanding the Board’s Key Role During a Crisis
23725 viewsThe board must balance the interests of family and business, and help build and preserve commitment and continuity when tough decisions must be made.
How Values-Based Communication Can Promote Racial Justice and Equality
4382 viewsMessages that proclaim solidarity can backfire if they are perceived as opportunism rather than a genuine commitment to the cause. Is your company walking the talk?
How Family Dynamics Shape Family Businesses
2137070 viewsWant your family business to run more smoothly? Examine your own relationships with parents, siblings and other relatives -- and talk to one another often.
Research Reveals How Business Families Have Coped With COVID-19
8034 viewsResearchers surveyed more than 1,000 family businesses around the world to see how they're handling the pandemic. Here is what they learned.
Four Things that the Best Family Business Boards Do Well
4877 viewsIndependent directors hold others accountable and encourage change even when firmly entrenched relationships or operating philosophies make it seem impossible.
Should You Brand Your Family Business? Evidence from Research and Practice
8150 viewsTouting its family ownership may help a firm impress some stakeholders, but may deter others. The family must be strategic in its branding efforts.
The Best Family Business Boards Embrace Candor and 'Necessary Endings'
2626 viewsBoards are there to help you be more successful. Here's more advice on how family business leaders can harness their board's full potential.
Developing Competent Owners and Stewards for a Lasting Family Business
271684 viewsEducating family members to become such competent, responsible stewards of the family enterprise is a responsibility, and not a choice.
The Hybrid Workplace is Here to Stay: 5 Ways to Make it Work
32304 viewsElon Musk is swimming against a global tidal wave of employee sentiment about how work gets done. Why it's best to go with the flow.
What All Family Businesses Can Learn From the Merck Family
10480 viewsThe Germany-based global health care, pharmaceutical and performance materials firm has kept its vast family ownership team aligned for 13 generations.
Family CEO Burnout: How to Prevent, Recognize and Deal With It
7055 viewsHow can leaders keep themselves from getting worn down or recognize burnout in themselves? And what should family members do if they see their leader struggling?
Don't Send Your Kids to Work Outside the Family Business Just Yet!
5044 viewsIt's naturally assumed that future leaders should toil in the trenches somewhere else first, but this has some significant drawbacks.
Why Don't You Educate Your Owners?
97959 viewsEveryone agrees that families should train members to become competent owners and stewards of the family business – but few of them actually walk the talk.
Growing Pains: Helping a Family Office to Evolve
6034 viewsThe Single Family Office should be a strategic partner that ensures future stability, but this family saw them as a piggybank.
Do You Treat In-Laws Like the Family Business Outlaws ?
16649 viewsFamilies differ in their willingness to integrate outsiders into their family circle, but be careful: these actions influence the included or excluded individuals in different ways.
Punishment, Reward, Control: How Money Shows Up in the Business Family
15747 viewsTalking about money can be taboo, but deeply engrained attitudes towards it can stir complex emotions, setting the stage for conflict and dysfunction.
Attitudes Towards Money Can Cloud Family Business Decisions
17999 viewsA family’s orientation towards money and wealth can harm the business and sell future generations short.
A False Sense of Urgency Helps Neither Family Nor Business
4182 viewsRushed decisions tend to lead to bad outcomes. So does avoiding decisions because we’re afraid of conflict. This framework helps businesses think realistically about decision urgency.
Involve Next-Gens in Developing Your Social Media Policy
5935 viewsConsider a social media policy as a relatively “low-hanging fruit” to introduce the next generation to family governance work.
How to Boost Your Board's Performance
6349 viewsOn an ideal board, directors with different levels of experience, backgrounds, and interests form a cohesive team that pulls in the same direction, and that achieves more together than
Include the Extended Family in Your Ownership Strategy
8135 viewsYour ownership strategy should consider that in future generations the family firm will likely have many more owners. Take a broader focus when you develop it.
How Family Businesses Can Recruit the Best C-Suite Candidates
35287 viewsFamily-owned businesses often struggle to compete with non-family firms when it comes to recruitment, and understanding the expectations of job seekers is crucial to attract the best talent.
Tariffs, Turmoil, and Family Tiffs: Navigating the Current Chaos
71461 viewsYou can support your business through economic uncertainty and maintain unity and commitment.
Turbulence Ahead: How Businesses Can Navigate Tariffs and Uncertainty
128876 viewsLegal interpretations, taxes, regulations, judicial rulings, trade agreements, and the like change daily. How to keep your business and stakeholders on an even keel.
Listening to the Family: The Strategic Value of Surveys
918 viewsSurveys can reveal differing perspectives, surface hidden tensions, and – when done well – build trust, and serve as an educational opportunity.
The World is Changing Faster Than Your Strategy
1833 viewsFamilies that learn to use their cohesion, trust, and long-term orientation as strengths can implement strategies more effectively than their non-family peers, especially in times of uncertainty.