Announcing Publication: November, 2009

 

Stewardship in Your Family Enterprise

Developing Responsible Family Leadership Across Generations

 

Available on-line from:   cambiopress.com/djaffe

 

                                                                                               

After a family has created wealth in a successful family business, they naturally want to see the wealth create success and fulfillment in the next generation, and the continuation of some form of shared family enterprise. But family relationships do not easily make for good business or financial partnerships, and the family must work hard to succeed over generations. Building a next generation of committed, capable and responsible family members is a new sort of challenge for the family.

 

The 45 lessons within can each be read independently, as the family seeks help in dealing with a particular aspect of succession, family conflict, selling a family business, selecting and developing next generation leadership or helping their children manage the benefits of their family wealth by becoming stewards of the family resources. We look at the potential "wealth" in the family as more than just financial, including spiritual, human, family and societal capital to sustain the family and leave a legacy in the family and for the community.

 

Table of Contents

 

Part I. The Delicate and Complex Nature of Family Enterprise

From Founder to Successor: Lessons from Nineteenth-Century Wealth Creators

True Wealth: The Stewardship of Family Capital

The Family Dramas of Succession and Inheritance

Stakeholders of the Family Enterprise

 

Part II. Effective Governance and Decision Making

Strategic Planning for the Family and the Business

Why Enterprising Families Need a Constitution

Defining a Family Mission and Crafting the Constitution

How Clarifying Values Builds Focus for a Family Enterprise

Sustaining Connection Through a Family Council

A Good Board Can Save the Business—and the Family—from Itself

The Independent Family Board

 

Part III. Building Communication and Resolving Family Conflict

Conflict, Emotions, and Family Dynamics

Openness and Transparency: Informing Family Stakeholders

Clear Boundaries Make All the Difference for Family Business

Repairing Short Circuits in the Family-Communication Process

Moving Beyond Emotional Reactions to Effective Family Communication

Preventing Family Feuds

The Disruptive In-law

Advisers: How to Get Out of the Middle

How to Hold an Effective Family Meeting

 

Part IV. The Rocky Transition from First to Second Generation

Navigating the Inevitable Transitions in a Family Enterprise

Succession Begins on the First Day of Work

Minority Family Owners: Creating a Family Marketplace

Should I Sell the Family Business?

Becoming an Enterprising Family

Surviving the Sale of the Family Business

After Crisis Comes Growth: Family Resiliency and Rebuilding Trust

 

Part V. The Personal Challenges of Succession

Dutiful Sons: How to Succeed as Heir to a Great Entrepreneur

When Succession Crosses Genders

Making the Right Choice for a Family Successor

Nonfamily Executives: Augmenting the Family Talent Pool

Founders Succeeding in Middle Life: Letting Go and Moving On

 

Part VI. Developing Leadership and Teamwork in the Next Generation

Knowledge Should Come Before Power in Succession

Nurturing Talent Across Generations

Leadership and Career Development for the Next Generation

Creating Effective Management Teams

How Brothers and Sisters Can Build a Second-Generation Family Team

Working for Yourself, Not Your Family

 

Part VII. Creating Stewardship of Family Wealth

The Burdens of Wealth

The Dilemmas of Acquired and Inherited Wealth

From Conflict to Clear Life Purpose: Coming to Terms with Family Wealth

Overcoming Entitlement and Raising a Responsible Next Generation

The Power of Giving as a Shared Family Activity

The Serious Business of Family Philanthropy

 

What others have said:

 

Dennis Jaffe is a life-long learner in the domain of serving families. His journey of learning and the wisdom it has spawned is now available within for all families and those who serve them to be enlightened by. Devour this great book heartily and your family will flourish for three more successful generations.

                  James Hughes, author, Family Wealth: Keeping it in the Family

 

Stewardship in Your Family Enterprise takes a realistic look at the challenges involved in leading a family enterprise through life's inevitable transitions and outlines the strategies for success that every family should consider.  Dennis reminds us that success requires commitment, communication and considerable investment in every family's greatest asset - its human capital. 

Sara Hamilton, Founder and CEO, Family Office Exchange

 

Wealth is an amplifier. The larger the family, the more crucial communication and governance becomes not only for the business, but also for the family. Dennis Jaffe does a wonderful job addressing the challenges and outlining the tools and techniques needed to help families sustain wealth across generations.

         Dirk Jungé, 4th Generation Family Member,

         Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Pitcairn

Dennis Jaffe has always had the knack of delivering real wisdom about families that is actionable and results oriented. This book is organized in a way that allows the reader to go directly to the topic at hand to learn what they need and apply it immediately. It will be on nightstands of many family leaders.

                  Kaycee Krysty, President and CEO, Laird Norton Tyee

 

Many books in this field dwell on 'horror stories': family wars and failure. Dennis Jaffe provides a welcome focus on what works, with decades of practical experience and reasoned thought to back him up. You will profit returning to these pages again and again, no matter what size your family enterprise is.

                  Keith Whitaker, Managing Director, Family Dynamics, Wells Fargo

 

Dennis Jaffe has devoted his career to helping business and wealth owning families have it both ways – enjoying meaningful, enduring, relationships as members of a cohesive family and being responsible stewards of their assets. For families wanting to prosper emotionally and financially over generations, Dennis shares his wisdom and his faith in our ability to work together and be successful regardless of the challenges.

                  Lansing Crane, former Chairman and CEO of Crane and Company,

  5th generation family business

 

 

Additional endorsements:

 

Jaffe's book is an inspirational journey of understanding and hope for all of us connected to a family enterprise – whether as a member in a family enterprise or as an advisor. Jaffe's genius is in taking a complex subject matter and presenting the material in such a way as to make each reader feel smart. Stewardship in Your Family Enterprise captures the magic and possibilities of shared family wealth. My only regret is that this book was not published 20 years ago.

James Olan Hutcheson, Founder, ReGENERATION Partners and Recipient of Richard Beckhard Practice Award, Family Firm Institute

 

Dennis Jaffe has been at the forefront of innovative thinking for a generation of academics and consultants who study and work with families and their businesses—helping them govern in better ways, work in better ways and love in better ways. Stewardship in Your Family Enterprise represents the culmination of Jaffe's learnings on this multi-faceted topic....   He has pulled all of the insights he has gathered together himself and written about so many times over the years and he has joined those insights with much of the knowledge others have added to the field in the last 25 years into this single guidebook for families, for business owners, and for the consultants who serve them.  This single volume brings together the best thinking about families and what helps to make them successful as they move from one generation to the next, as managers of successful businesses and as stewards of the many treasures that make up each family.  For anyone who cares about family businesses and how they successfully move from one generation to the next, Stewardship in Your Family Enterprise is now the essential first stop.  It is Family Business 101, 201 and 301 all rolled into one place.                                                         
 
            Norm Boone, Chairman, Mosaic Financial Partners

This book is a must read for families who want to develop both their wealth and relationships. Especially next generation family members will hugely benefit from it.

              Jozef Lievens, Managing Director, Institute for Family

              Business and FBN Belgium, Professor, HU Brussels

 

 

 

Many of the concepts and issues identified strikes a chord with the current generation of Asian business owners who needs support and guidance on how to tackle these issues. One would get a much better understanding and how to move forward after reading the book

                  Thomas Ang, Credit Suisse, Singapore

 

Dennis Jaffe has written a "must-read" book that serves as a comprehensive guide and invaluable resource for family members striving to understand the dynamics and impact of wealth in the context of a family enterprise.  Stressing the principles of leadership, teamwork and stewardship within a family structure, Mr.. Jaffe leverages his unique background to suggest practical tools which help families better understand and communicate their values, and overcome challenges and barriers that stand in their way.  Concise, articulate, and profound, this book can help families of all kinds learn from past mistakes and enable them to proactively construct a stable and focused foundation for the growth of future generations. 

                  Allison Taff, Director, Family Office Services, Silver Bridge Advisors

 

A comprehensive and in-depth discussion of the real issues families face as their family business matures and subsequent generations become employees and owners.  I am deeply impressed with Dennis's approach to governance issues, resolving business conflicts and developing future family leaders.  Required reading by a truly exceptional counselor and consultant in the family business field.

                  Bill Messenger, President, Aureus Inc

 

 All wealthy families can benefit from the generous wealth of advice and information in this book. Dennis Jaffe has been a pioneer in this emerging, complex field, and has organized the topics: each stands alone, making it immediately useful to a family wanting to learn how to cope better with a specific challenge--or just to read a topic of interest.

Barbara Hauser, family advisor, author of International Family Governance

 

Its clarity and comprehensive scope will appeal to business-owning families, but there's considerable food for thought for family business practitioners as well.

                  Amelia Renkert-Thomas, Principal, Withers Bergman