Table of Contents for "Keep the Family Baggage Out of the Family Business:  Avoiding the Seven Deadly Sins That Destroy Family Businesses"

Chapter 1: Why You Need to Read This Book

Part III illustrates the emotional issues that confront family businesses as they undergo succession and presents solutions to help overcome the problems created by these issues. In addition, it is integrated with the key themes of this book – family systems, business systems and family baggage. This approach differs from all other family business books – books that focus exclusively on tax and accounting aspects of succession.

This chapter presents a set of problems that tend to arise whenever succession occurs in a family business (and sometimes any organization), even in healthy families. It begins by explaining that succession introduces change into an organization, and change evokes fear. The chapter then presents a model that explains when the best time to perform succession is, and that shows that family conflict will inevitably result if succession does not occur at a specific time. Finally, a series of conditions are identified that serve as warning signs that the succession process will be difficult.