All business-owning families want continuity. They also want strong family relationships and a strong business. In order to successfully achieve both, it is important to understand and use a key ingredient: Identity.
Identity is the process of understanding the answer to the question “Who am I?” We answer this our entire lives — often looking to older family members for advice and approval. This is especially tricky in a family business where members are defined by the multiple, overlapping hats they wear: parents/bosses, grandparents/founders, siblings/business partners, cousins/shareholders and so on.
Add in another layer of complexity when the next generation and leading generation are struggling to see where everyone fits. To unlock the potential of the entire family system, business-owning families can help clear the path for identity development. This webinar will share examples and practical steps on how to:
- Support individual identity development and family harmony
- Understand and untangle the multiple roles within the family
- Encourage next-gen growth in leadership and family roles
- Create plans that allow space for new ideas, risk and failures
- Use family and business values as a guide
This one-hour program includes time for Q&A and is ideal for all family members — from founders to the rising generation.
About the Presenters
Tom Emigh is motivated by Mission, Values, and Leadership. He is passionate about helping family businesses pursue a successful and compelling mission through developing individuals and owning families to become better at everything they do. He is both concerned with the development of the person, but also quickly grasps both strategic and operational processes and how systems operate throughout organizations, industries, and families.
Amy Wirtz brings a diverse range of experience to family enterprises by serving in various roles such as an exit-planning advisor, collaborative lawyer, mediator, arbitrator, lecturer, and teacher. She specializes in shareholder value enhancement, business planning processes, and transition implementation of management, leadership, or ownership of a business. Her passion stems from growing up in her grandparents’ second-generation business, surrounded by the wonderfully complex matters a family business presents.
Additional Resources
Suggested Articles
- Four Generations, One Workforce: Valuing Generational Differences in a Family Business
- Developing Next-Generation Leaders in Family Business
- Empowering the Next Generation with the Future
- Family Business Education for the Next Generation
Family Champions: Energy for Success - Team Building in the Next Generation: Preparing Future Leaders
- From Partners by Chance to Partners by Choice: The 7 Cs of Trust-based Partnerships
You can also access hundreds of in-depth articles written by our team that address the unique challenges faced by family enterprises from communication and conflict to succession and continuity. Visit our Article Library.
Recommended Books
- Family Business Succession: Your Roadmap to Continuity
- Transitioning from the Top: Personal Continuity Planning for the Retiring Family Business Leader
Family Wealth Continuity: Building a Foundation for the Future - Family Champions and Champion Families: Developing Family Leaders to Sustain the Family Enterprise
- Family Business Ownership: How to Be an Effective Shareholder