Entrepreneurship

“Launch Your Newsletter: Become A Digital Family Enterprise Advisor”

By Sajjad Hamid

Rodolfo Paiz: Sajjad Hamid’s article is thought-provoking (and skills-developing) for practitioners, because our world is changing quickly. Whether it’s generative AI, digital marketing and content creation, new tools and techniques, fintech, or anything else, let us all be clear that less than 20% of us will still be on the leading edge ten years from now, while the other 80% will be left behind. It is worthwhile for practitioners to ask themselves, “What am I doing to stay in that leading 20%?”

Family Office

“Family Offices Around the World: A Conversation with Mary Duke, Aik-Ping Ng, and Peter Vogel”

RP: This podcast conversation about the future of family offices worldwide is a wonderful example of different viewpoints coming together to spark thought, conversation, and debate. Enterprising families may choose to implement family offices differently, and each advisor brings to the table different experiences that can help client families weave a more beautiful tapestry of their life together.

Governance

“Getting It ‘Just Right’: The Goldilocks Zone of Family Board Involvement in Family Firms”

By Peter Jaskiewicz, James G. Combs, Klaus Uhlenbruck, Amlan Datta, and Katrina Barclay

RP: It’s exceedingly hard to get good data on family enterprises, even if we stick to publicly-traded entities—and frequently those entities are vastly different from privately-traded companies. I applaud the curious and exploratory approach with which this article seeks ideas that can reasonably be considered best practices. Practitioners may disagree on the best practices, and in any case a general best practice may not be optimal for a given family, but the search is nevertheless a treasure in itself.

Practice Insights

“Measuring Performance in Family Enterprises: An Interview with Sir Andrew Likierman”

RP: I enjoyed how this podcast interview with Andrew Likierman explores measuring performance, one of the topics that family advisors and family business leaders cherish despite the myths to the contrary. And don’t miss Andrew’s book, Judgement at Work, which I highly recommend.

Practice Insights

“Curiosity as a Practice: Lessons from Japan and Beyond”

By Doutzen Grootof and Don Opatrny

RP: I believe that all advisors have a duty to be curious and constant learners about different cultures so they can be more effective as advisors. What is common or best in one culture may be counterproductive in another. In GEN 202 I recommend approaching situations and challenges with a spirit of curiosity, and encourage advisors to travel, learn languages, and become more multicultural. This article encourages all three with a combination of clarity and elegance that I’m delighted to recommend.