Successful businesses are founded in meeting the needs of others in a way not presently met. As you begin to look to growth in your family business and engage family members in this conversation and their roles in the business, tap into their creativity and talents. Support them to discover…

Everyone in a family business understands the sacrifices they require and the impacts they can have on our partners and children through our absences and commitment to the business. But there is a pleasure and freedom that is experienced through being in business. It’s important that we talk to these aspects with our family so they may appreciate why being in business can be so fulfilling, can share in these joys and nurture their own entrepreneurial spirit.

In families and family businesses, the art of conversation is the cement of relationships and unity. It is about connection, empathy and engagement, leading to belonging and then contribution. Many of us are not good at meaningful conversations, but as with all arts, there are basic skills that can be mastered. Out of 10, how would you score the level of meaningful conversations that occur in your family?

As we have well and truly clicked over the half way mark for this calendar year, our minds are turning towards year end. This year end season is one where families from around the world of varying cultures and faiths will be coming home in celebrations including Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year to name just a few. It is a season of reunion and the opportunity for conversations — an opportunity that should never be wasted.

A customer-centric business places the customer, and their needs at its centre and everything else then orientates to this view. Unfortunately, many businesses speak of being customer-centric, but very few indeed are, and this failure limits their potential success. Active Knowledge Questions: What is the most critical metric in your business? What does…

The businesses that built the wealth of the family in the last generation will not be the same businesses that continue to develop that wealth in the next generation — markets evolve, opportunities come and go, and technology has its impact. Our eye must always be to the businesses that will allow our children and their children to continue the ‘family business’. What new markets are you seeding the family business into?

In business, we typically think of growth in terms of sales and profit. As the business ages, we try to grow sales and to earn more profit. But in a family business, we must also strive to grow the business to provide opportunity for the next generation of family members. Do you ever consider what business opportunities you should seek to secure to open the door for the next generation to enter the family business?

When you look to the next generation entering the family business, consider who has the right heart as well who has the hard-nose for business. You may find the heart is far more critical than the hard-nose. How do you weigh up the value of the contribution that each family member can make to the business? Every individual is different and will have different talents to contribute to a family business, but there can be a tendency to undervalue, and overvalue, certain traits.

If your business has worthy leaders at its helm and throughout its ranks, it would be a business that attracted the best of the best, who each gave everything they had every day to make the business an incredible success. Have you built the right cornerstone for worthy leadership to thrive in your business? It starts with choosing your leaders upon their core character. And bearing in mind that your weakest leader will set the ceiling to the success of your business.