Working With Consultants

October 19, 2026 - Issue #177

Family Business Consultant or Coach: Which Do You Need? Coaches help individual family members grow; consultants solve problems affecting the entire family business. Learn when to hire each and how they can work together.

Multigenerational Consulting Teams Bring Wisdom and Fresh Insights Many family businesses facing a leadership transition to the next generation turn to advisors to help them create a plan and work through their differences. Multigenerational advisory teams can help.

Can a Family Business Consultant Really Help? Nine Experts Explain What Families Often Miss Family business consultants often create their greatest value in unexpected ways: helping families uncover the real reasons they're stuck, have difficult conversations, and make better decisions.

Growing Pains: Helping a Family Office to Evolve The Single Family Office should be a strategic partner that ensures future stability, but this family saw them as a piggybank.

'CHAOS' Brings Order to Family Businesses Business thinking is rational and economic; families are highly emotional. Chaos can result when the two realms intermingle, but it can be minimized.

Helping Families Prepare for the Worst

The Psychology of Effective Exit Planning: A Guide for Families and Advisors Family firms can help the next generation move forward by understanding and supporting the emotional aspects of the exit for the current leader.

Family Firms May Need More Legal Advice Than They Think Families are often reluctant to anticipate and plan for the day when an unexpected transition might upend their business. The costs of inaction are high.

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Before You Create a Family Office, Prepare the Next Generation

Popular Topics

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Recent

Why Family Businesses Shouldn't Always Listen to Wall Street

by Douglas Hassell and Kimberly Eddleston / Applied and Practice

What Nordstrom, Mars, Dillard's and Patagonia can teach family businesses about ownership structure Read more...

Selling the Family Business? Prepare the Family for What Comes Next

by Susana Quintás / Applied and Practice

A business sale changes more than ownership. Families must also rethink governance, roles, wealth, identity, and purpose after the company is gone. Read more...

How Family Business Succession Shapes Innovation in the Next Generation

by Ludovica Del Barone, Maria Annosi, Filomena Buonocore, and Evelyn Micelotta / Research Insight

Research on 16 family businesses reveals why some successors build on the previous generation’s innovations while others rarely or never innovate. Read more...

When Political Differences Threaten the Family Business

by Paul Edelman / Practice Insight

Political differences can turn dangerous when family members begin dismissing one another’s business judgment based on political identity. Read more...

by Joseph Astrachan and Claudia Binz Astrachan

Let the Next Generation of Family Firm Leaders Chart Their Own Path

by Klaus Lüber and Nadine Kammerlander

Why Family Businesses Need Outside Leaders to Survive Across Generations

by Robert Sher

5 Practical Tips for Making Business Decisions With Family Members

by Rostyslav Vovk

How Family Businesses Can Avoid Conflict Between Family and Business Roles

by Kerry Hannon

Things to Consider When Transferring Family Business Ownership

by Susan Lanz, Gary Burke, Kajsa Haag, and Omid Omidvar