This was an “elephant in the room” conversation about issues facing family businesses in the UAE. Two things stood out from this discussion:    First, legal ownership is not a leadership skill or a management qualification, so promoting people based on tenure and honour (blood relationship) is a dangerous game played with hundreds if not thousands of livelihoods at stake.    Second, we are in a post-trader globalizing economy. Family businesses that don’t shift to a professional meritocracy and silo their innovation processes will likely lose their competitive advantages in the coming years, and their grandkids will lose their legacies.   Dr Corrie Block, a leading GCC business strategist and executive coach is joined by  Danish Farhan, Founder of Xische & Co., Gary Hales, Head of Equiom Fiduciary, Middle East, and Asin Nurani, Managing Partner of RTS Global Partners, to answer the question: Are family businesses prepared for disruption?