Your Business, Your Family, Their Future: How to Ensure Your Family Enterprise Thrives for Generations

From mom-and-pop stores to Fortune 500 corporations, the family business as an institution is widespread and enduring--yet only 30 percent of family enterprises successfully transition to the next generation. In this accessible and deeply informed new book, family enterprise expert Emily Griffiths-Hamilton (author of Build Your Family Bank: A Winning Vision for Multigenerational Wealth) shares the secrets of successful multigenerational family enterprises. Through extensive research and personal and professional experience as a member of and advisor to family enterprises, Griffiths-Hamilton has developed an unconventional approach that looks beyond narrow business considerations to focus on the critical aspect of every family enterprise--the "family factor." Successful multi-generational family enterprises, she explains, are animated by a unifying vision that rests on shared values. Mutual trust and strong communication skills are vital for families to articulate these foundational elements, which will then inform a "family enterprise framework" that can endure for generations. Planning for the long-term health of a family business doesn't need to be complicated. Beginning with a single meeting, family enterprises of every shape and size can use the insights in this book to build robust frameworks that will reward their members for decades to come--not just financially, but with strengthened family connections, a shared sense of purpose, and perhaps most importantly, a bit of fun.