10 Tips for Bringing Your Children into the Family Business

Our latest Wall Street Journal blog post was precipitated by a growing number of clients who’ve asked questions about the right way to bring their offspring into their companies and by the coincidence of a trade association who wanted a workshop on the same topic. While we don’t have any hard data to support this, it does seem like family business leaders are becoming more sophisticated about intelligently integrating their NextGen family members into their companies.

There are definitely best practices which can help family-owned businesses get succession right. By the same token, there are worst practices and wrong ways. Probably the most common error is that members of both generations assume they know the hopes and dreams of the other. The senior generation assumes that NextGen members automatically and reflexively desire careers in the family firm – how could they not? – and the younger folks assume there will be an office and a nice compensation package waiting for them when they graduate from college. Both generations should enter into a family employment relationship in a much more professional, deliberate, and thoughtful way.
Click here for the full text of the Wall Street Journal article