Unite ownership.
Empower management. Lead with vision.
Planning for effective ownership is vital to long-term success. When owners speak with a common voice, they make it possible for managers to do their jobs in an optimal way. And shareholders are more engaged when they clearly understand their roles and expectations.
We work with families to plan for ownership changes and create programs for educating current and future owners on their rights and responsibilities. We believe the cornerstone of an effective ownership structure is first establishing the values, vision and goals that guide business strategy and operations.
Values
Shared values add harmony, meaning and strength to the business culture.
Common family values can steer a family toward productive behavior and appropriate decision making. In a family enterprise, perspectives, goals and interests naturally shift over time. Each generation should review the core values of the previous one to ensure they’re still aligned.
We focus on a structure to identify and clarify family values and use those as guideposts to effectively guide vision, strategy, investment and governance.
Vision
Know what you want the company to become and what ownership means.
The owners’ vision for the business centers on two things ‒ the nature of the business and the ownership structure. Do you want a diversified, multi-business company, or will you stay in one industry? Do you want to be local or regional, or global? Do you want a business that welcomes family members as employees or that relies on non-family management, or both?
Owners should also agree on who can own shares and who can vote for them. Some families want public ownership, others want private partners, and some want neither. Some concentrate voting rights in trusts or general partners. We’ll help you define a vision that’s in line with the values most important to the family and the business.