Our Latest Articles
//February 16, 2026 - Issue #160
Will Your Nonfamily Employees Defend Your Business? A stewardship climate, where employees feel trusted and truly valued, mobilizes nonfamily employees to defend the family firm against reputational threats. 
The 11 Digital Warning Signs of Conflict Escalation in Business Families Digital communication speeds up family business decisions—but it also accelerates conflict. Based on 100+ pages of real emails and texts, here are 11 signs that an all-out brawl is coming.
Editor's Pick
Sherri Noxel
'Letting Go'
Oregon winery entrepreneur Susan Sokol Blosser is one of the founders of Oregon’s wine industry and a prolific writer. In “Letting Go” she captured the very personal and painful journey of exiting a family business that she founded. It’s the type of honest book about succession that is hard to find. Her first book, “Gracious and Ruthless: Surprising Strategies for Business Success,” shares her point of view as a woman founder in a traditionally male industry.
http://www.susansokolblosser.com
How Families Shape Successor Motivation—and the Firm’s Long-Term Direction Family firms don’t have goals—people do. The rise and fall of Italy's Florio dynasty shows how successor motivation shapes the balance between growth, legacy, and community—and how families can buildl more durable, values-led leadership.
How Families Can Re-Engage Reluctant Successors Without Pressure Successors recommit when roles align with their values, skills, and life stage—and when family dynamics allow earlier experiences to be reinterpreted.
Buying a Business Means Inheriting Its Stakeholders The former owner’s relationships with employees, suppliers, and customers can be a tough act to follow -- and affect value creation long after the deal closes.
What Nonfamily Managers Need From Family Firm Leaders Vision matters—but so does individualized consideration. This study shows nonfamily managers perform better when CEOs pair transformational leadership with genuine, personalized attention and political skill.
Family Offices Are Expanding Their Role As family attitudes towards wealth, purpose, and legacy evolve, their offices are doing more than just managing wealth, a study shows.
You're Adding a Board of Directors. Is Your Management Team Ready? A Ukraine-based family business installed a board to provide structure as it scaled globally. Here's how the owners overcame top managers' fears and won their support. 
As Prince Andrew showed, one person’s behavior can become everyone’s problem. Families must set expectations, outline processes, and provide clarity before emotions take over. Read more...
As trillions in family-owned companies shift to next-generation leaders, one critical asset is being ignored: the brand. Here’s why brand value—often nearly 20% of enterprise worth—erodes during succession and how families can protect it. Read more...
Rather than inherited like family heirlooms, values are shaped and re-shaped by interactions between the generations at the family firm. Read more...
A family investment policy defines how a family manages its collective financial assets in alignment with its shared values, goals, and risk preferences. Read more...
Editorial offices located at St Thomas University
Supported by the Richard M Schulze Family Foundation