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Why Family Businesses are Different
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Recognizing the strength of family businesses
A recent editorial in The Economist recognized the persistence of the family firm--a fact generally ignored by the business press. The editorial pointed to the domination of family firms in the emerging commercial markets of Asia and Latin America, as well as their often unacknowledged influence in developed economies such as the United States, Germany and Italy... READ MORE
We protect loved ones
My father had a business as did most of his friends. He started a photo-engraving business in Bridgeport, Connecticut during the depression, before I was born, and sold it when I was in my middle thirties. To my brother and me, it was the "place.". READ MORE
Family businesses serve as backbone of communities
Family-owned businesses play a major role in building and sustaining communities. Over 50% of the American workforce is employed by family businesses, and 90% of U.S. businesses are family-owned. Clearly, our country would be very different economically and socially if there were not a tradition of private entrepreneurship... READ MORE
Business health requires freedom
Developmentally, it is necessary for children to separate from their parents. Little children adore their parents, are dependent on them, and view them as models for the adults they want to become. During adolescence and afterward, children have to acquire their own identity to develop self-esteem and become independent. Our culture cooperates by establishing generation gaps in the arts, in language, and in values... READ MORE
Insight makes change possible
Should a son give a tyrannical father another chance and return to the family business? Should parents give a child who failed in the business at 20 another chance at 40? Human relations professionals work under the assumption that people change. Without that belief, there can be no hope of a future that is better than the past... READ MORE
Family names don't always fit in business settings
Family nicknames that work at home are sometimes cause for problems in the workplace. In my family, we distinguished between two aunts named Anna, by calling one "Sy's Anna." As a child, I was confused because I'd heard the name Susanna, but never Sysanna. My mother explained that it was Anna, married to Sy... READ MORE |
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