Spreading the Word Even in the “Cruelest Month”

business associates all engrossed in mini meetings, wearing shades of mostly neutral colors

Prepared Exclusively for FFI Members

April 28, 2023

T

wentieth-century American poet T.S. Eliot begins his most famous work, “The Waste Land,” with these words: “April is the cruelest month.” First published in the United Kingdom and with passages and references in Greek, Sanskrit, German, Italian, Latin, and French, “The Waste Land” is about eternal life, promises, and the perils of the careless choice of words.

But we have nothing quite so serious in mind in this last April (cruelest month) issue of FFI on Friday. In fact, the message here is less a cautionary tale and more about spreading some good news on various FFI initiatives, some old, some new.

Please read on!

Family Business Review (FBR)

Now in its 35th year of publication, FBR is ever evolving and exploring new ways to promote the field and the understanding of family enterprise as a widespread, but somewhat unique, form of business. It is currently published by SAGE and available to all members as a member benefit.

Launching in May is a collaboration with FamilyBusiness.org and its sister website Entrepreneur and Innovation Exchange. This collaboration, overseen by our FBR editor, Don Neubaum, will include publishing research translations from FBR every 4-6 weeks.

The impact and scope of FamilyBusiness.org has continued to expand over the past few years. During the last publishing year, FamilyBusiness.org, together with its companion site eix.org, reached more than 3.5 million visitors with more than 5.8-million-page (article) views.

FFI Practitioner

Now in its eleventh year of publication as a weekly publication and companion to the scholarly FBR, FFI Practitioner has published over 650 articles, all available on www.ffipractitioner.org and open to the public at no charge. FFI Practitioner features commentaries, cases, research findings and much more in an effort to reach beyond the scholarly community to professionals in the field. Dan Frosh is the managing editor.

2022 was a banner year!

51 issues published, featuring ideas from more than 60 authors
20% of the issues were podcasts, with more than 4000 listeners
Open rate was 41% for FFI Practitioner, versus industry standard of 18%
43,317 unique visitors to www.ffipractitioner.org

Coming or continuing in 2023:

A series of issues prepared by the FFI Asian Circle Virtual Study Group
“Articles We Love,” a curated series by editors of other publications in the field. Go here for the first issue, curated by David Shaw, publishing director for Family Business Magazine.

Up next are choices by Paul Andrews, Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of Family Business United, and a third issue curated by Farida El-Agamy and Ramia El-Agamy from Tharawat Magazine and Orbis Terra Media.

Global Education Network (GEN)

Now in its second decade providing online, structured certificate programs, GEN has granted more than 1000 certificates since it began 2012. The students and the faculty come from across the globe with most certificate having been granted in the UK and Europe (30%), Pacific Rim (25%), US and Canada (20%), Latin America, MENA, and Africa (20%), ROW (5%)

Two new faculty members were added this year: Heinz-Peter Elstrodt (GEN 502) and Rodolfo Paiz (GEN 202). To see the complete list of faculty, descriptions of certificate programs, and to enroll, go to the FFI GEN website.

GEN Scholarship application deadline is May 1. Q2 GEN enrollment will close on May 5.

2023 Conference Keynotes

The three outstanding conference keynotes have now been announced for the October conference at the Marriott Marquis in NYC:

Jason Jay, MIT Sloan School of Management and 2023 FFI Scholar-in-Residence: Wednesday, October 25

Barnet Schecter, historian and author of The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution: October 26

Grace Lordan, London School of Economics and Political Science, founding director of The Inclusion Initiative and advisory board member of UK Women in Finance Charter: Friday, October 27

See the complete program and register

Previous Edition

Today, we are pleased to continue our series featuring the FFI organizational members for 2023. These five members, which include distinguished organizations, associations, and educational institutions, are increasing the global footprint of the field.