There are two common views of family enterprise.  The first is that these are conservative, stagnating organizations of the past, rife with conflicts among family owners and owner-managers, and plagued by nepotism and succession problems.  Another view, one espoused by our book Managing for the Long Run, suggests quite a different perspective: that family owners' concerns for later family generations and hence the longevity of their business, make them unusually astute and committed stewards of their businesses.  They invest deeply and persistently in the capabilities of their companies, in their employees who engender and deliver those capabilities, and in their external partnerships with suppliers, customers, investors and even the community at large.

The research we have been conducting with Canadian, American and Korean companies over the past five years suggests that both views are correct - but under different circumstances.  (Read more from Danny Miller and Isabelle Le Breton-Miller and add comments.) 

What I Have Learned from Working with Business Families...

Be humble...
If you think you hold all of the solutions to all of your client's needs, you are wrong. Family business members have lots to teach us.
 
Aim for incremental changes
A holistic approach with incremental changes is key, instead of trying to implement all the changes at once.
 
Know the theory ...but beware  of the pitfalls in applying it to real situations
You need to adapt theory. A good example is the parallel planning process; the time line in the family setting is much longer than in the business realm.
 
Practice does not make perfect...it often makes us lazy...
Be aware that the more you work with families, the higher the risk of not starting at the beginning without any prejudices.  (Read more from Denise Pare-Julien and add comments.)

A Business Family and a Family in Business

Welcoming children in the business as second generation is always a great issue! Having six children multiplies the challenge...  My wife and I had from the outset, even when the kids where young, made it clear to all of them that first they have to follow their own passion, not their parent's passion: they could do whatever they wanted but first they had to study...

So the older is a young director in filmmaking, the second is a mechanical engineer, our third child, our daughter, is a speech therapist, then the 4th... is doing exactly the same diploma in Operation Management I did and at the same university I attended 34 years ago (a unique and first second generation in this field).... The 5th is in communication and the youngest, at 18, is in music ... a blues/rock drummer going for a sound mixing engineering career...

With this context all of them were welcomed to work in the family company as a summer job, visiting factories and service companies.  (Read more from Jean-Marc Legentil and add comments.)