Professor Carlock's article on the importance of shared goals, based on his interview with Singapore Women's Everest team leader Sim Yi Hui at the FT Family Business Forum Asia.
Solutions for infighting among Asian business families: Control of the business and next-generation careers are two issues that need to be openly addressed or they risk becoming a source of conflict
How family business leadership need to develop plans for their own transition from managing the business to supporting the next generation's careers in three "acts".
A combination of emotional and professional systems must be used if children in a family business are to keep the business running
Managing the transition of ownership and control across generations is a challenge that every family business must face. To many business families, the Bancrofts’ experience of losing Dow Jones & Company – to the Murdochs – would represent the ultimate failure.
Climbing Mount Everest takes skills, plans, a strong team and luck. But it's how people work together that matter most – just as it does in business.
Jobs' model for companies was the Beatles – he saw teamwork as integral to realising his vision with a clear strategy and plan to nurture talented workers.
The transfer of a business from one generation to the next can turn into a disaster if the family has not planned and made decisions together.
Beware the "majority-of-one" leadership model. Family-business founders who fail to consult the next generation or plan for its eventual succession threaten the future success of their businesses and the Asian economic miracle.
Priming the next generation to continue the success of an enterprise is becoming a perplexing problem for Asian bosses. But by encouraging four skill sets, they can turn their children into future leaders.
Professor Randel Carlock, INSEAD’s Berghmans Lhoist chaired professor in Entrepreneurial Leadership and director, Wendel International Centre for Family Enterprise, outlines strategies to help your family business through the current storm.
Powering a Positive Family Business
South China Morning Post, March 2013
Try this vital balancing act
South China Morning Post,Nov 2012
Managing the Craziness
Campden FB Autumn 2012
Executives can feel isolated, says Randel Carlock, a trained psychotherapist and a professor at Insead business school. “They can’t speak openly to employees or go to a trusted vice-president and say something like ‘I don’t know what to do’. This just leads to self-doubt, when coaches and organisational psychologists can be useful.”
Carlock says that it’s all about focusing on improving the performance and life experience of individuals – positive psychology. “How can you help family members in family businesses develop meaningful lives? That’s what it’s all about.” People might be afraid of the word psychology, but they are, perhaps, afraid of the word rather than the reality.
The teddy bear approach
Take a teddy bear to family meetings, says psychotherapist and professor of business Randel Carlock. ... When dealing with a family where the patriarch tends to dominate conversations, Carlock uses the toy to facilitate communication. “A teddy bear is put in the centre of table and when we start the meeting the bear gets passed around to whoever is speaking – when someone is done speaking they pass it on to the next person. You can’t talk until you are holding the teddy bear,” he says. Fun it may seem but Carlock says it “works unbelievably”, as it creates a “level playing field” for all family members. “It changes the whole dynamic and the family can communicate and listen to each other.”
Carlock, after his teddy bear, favours the “action-research model” where he works with individual family members, interviews and listens to everything they have to say about the family and the challenges it faces, writes up a report and discusses it with the whole family. “It is to help them see patterns of behaviour and communication, how they deal with conflict and who has the power to be more effective among the family. It is all about helping the family see new information,” he says.
A Conversation with Curt Carlson
In one of his last interviews, the late entrepreneur looks back on his career and discusses the workings of his family business - Read more...
Trouble at the Family Mill? Call in the Chief Emotional Officer
An INSEAD Knowledge article featuring a video interview with Randel Carlock:
"Family-owned companies need to be run with emotional, as well as professional leadership, experts say. That’s one area where senior family members often have a crucial role to play."
http://knowledge.insead.edu/contents/INSEAD-knowledge-trouble-at-the-family-mill-call-in-the-chief-emotional-officer-110323.cfm
The Psychology of Succession
Wealth Management magazine (UBS) October 2008
Keeping a family fortune intact is not just a matter of good investment practice or legal structures. The concept of stewardship is key,says INSEAD professor Randel Carlock - Read more: 5 language versions available:
English
French
Deutsch
Italiano
En español
Nurture Your Business and Make the World a Better Place
The Times June 9, 2011
Family business is a challenge because families are about emotions and businesses are about financial performance – not a likely formula for a successful partnership. Yet,despite this apparent conflict in purposes, many family businesses createa competitive advantage based on stewardship by aligning their concern for family emotions while acting professionally to deliver business performance. Read More
Developing the Next Generation of Leaders for Asian Businesses
Developing capable leaders and owners is one of the most challenging tasks for any organisation... Read more
The Great Family Business Brainstorm
Campden FB No 45 Spring 2010 May 2010
Professor Randel Carlock, INSEAD's Berghmans Lhoist chaired professor in Entrepreneurial Leadership and director of the Wendel International Centre for Family Enterprise, outlines the results of a family business brainstorm at the FBN Global Summit.
More than 600 participants at the 20th Family Business Network International Global Summit came together last October to brainstorm ideas on how to deal with crisis and conflicts.
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Family Conflict – when enough is enough
First Published in Families in Business Magazine No 40 Sep/Oct 2008
The latest news of conflict between Mukesh and Anil Ambani comes as no surprise. Mukesh's Reliance Industries began arbitration proceedings against Anil's Reliance Communications in July following a collapsed merger deal with MTN Group, claiming it has first right to refusal over Anil's stake in the company. The brothers have been fighting since 2002 following the death of their father and the subsequent division of his business empire.
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