Much is being made about Senate voting thresholds in the press these days. When can the Senate act by simple majority? When must there be a super majority of 60 votes rather than 51? More relevant to our purposes: what do the sometimes-arcane voting rules of the U.S. Senate have to do with family business decision-making?
More than you might think…
Created in the 1970’s by professors John Davis and Renato Tagiuri of the Harvard Business School, the Three-Circle Model is a time-tested and oft-referenced tool for understanding the relationships between the owners, business, and family in a family enterprise system.
Watch this short, informational video to help round your understanding of these critical relationships and gain insight that may change your perspective.
How do you create a Board of Directors? A Family Assembly? What about an Owners Council or Beneficiary Council? What will they do? Who will be on them? Well run forums are a significant asset when making major decisions and for aligning stakeholders across the enterprise system, but many families don’t fully utilize them. Learn how you might start to put forums to work in your family enterprise in this practical article.
When so much of the business world’s discussion space is filled with hot topics such as “unicorns,” “disruptors,” “private equity,” and “exits,” it is easy to see why family business owners may feel out of step with trends in business strategy. These trends come and go (think: matrixed organization, vertical integration, synergy, virtual corporation), but for at least some family business owners, the sense of disconnection is perpetual.
Have you ever been in a meeting that felt aimless or got out of control? Do you wish your board of directors or owners council meetings were more organized? For family businesses looking to formalize their enterprise by developing a clearer process for meetings and decision-making, there is a time-tested architecture: Robert’s Rules of Order.
A board of directors is often promoted as a critical tool for growing family businesses—and rightly so. A well-constructed board can bring new thinking and perspective, better deliberation, along with expertise and experience that the business needs to grow and achieve its vision of success.
But boards are not a magic elixir, either. when the owners fail to communicate their vision—their direction—for the future of the business, there is a real possibility that the board’s well-intentioned efforts will veer off course, destroying capital the family has worked for years to create.
