This is a very good book, and I recommend it. The topic it covers focuses on how a family business and a family shall be able to function together in a balanced way, so that the two sides can not only be able to flourish but that there even might be a substantial positive synergy between the two. The author, who is an accomplished consultant to families which own family businesses, and with backgrounds in psychology as well as from finance, introduces the concept of boundaries as a key element for how to cope with this challenge. The author likens a boundary to a fence or a hedge with a gate.
One boundary would surround the family, and the other surrounding the family business, i.e. analogous to two circles, with clarities in roles and foci for the various family members who would be inside one or both circles. Further, the “gates” in the circles allow members to be “invited” into the other circle, or intentionally kept out, both based on specific decisions by the person is who is/are in charge of a given circle. In this way, positive additional contributions might be built, i.e. synergies.
This short book, with 15 chapters in three parts (overview; principles of boundaries; building better boundaries) has a lot of useful examples, all disguised of course, as well as questions to consider for us readers at the end of each chapter. A useful 15-point self-assessment test is provided at the end of the book. This adds even more to its practical usefulness.
As an owner of a family business, with clear ambitions also to “safeguard” the harmony within my family, I find this book to be very helpful.
Comments