Thanks for stopping by, I'm Jon Kenfield, the host of the Family Business Challenge series: "Family Business" ... makes no sense!

In this series, I'll be tackling 51 individual causes that affect Family Businesses. Focusing on family conflict - a primary cause of family business failure - where either the family, the business, or both, fail.

I share my learnings from almost 3 decades of working as a Solutionist with real Business Families - by exploring 50 of the most common causes of conflict I've dealt with. I also explain how to prevent, avoid, and resolve those conflicts. For every acknowledged problem a solution can be found, or constructed.

My goal is to help you make more sense of Family Business, whether you're in one, or trying to advise one or many.

Continues to posit that anybody who chooses to combine their family with their business is either selfish, or nuts, because almost everything needed to make a business profitable conflicts with the needs of a happy family.

"Family Business" demonstrably makes no sense - since for every success there are at least 10 failures.  All sad, and most avoidable.  

From which we deduce that success or failure isn't a matter of luck, it's a function of knowledge, focus, skill, wisdom, effort, and discipline.

Successful, multi-generational Business Families do the right things at the right time, and avoid doing the wrong things most of the time, in their businesses and in their families, to achieve long-term peace and prosperity.  

Family Business Best Practice imrpoves the prospects for business family success, the same way best practices generally improve efficiency and effectiveness in other types of organisation.

This podcast focuses on family business conflict as a primary cause of family business failure - so we'll start by defining what we mean by "conflict".

I'll follow that with an exploration of 50 of the most common causes of family business conflict, and explain how to prevent, avoid, and resolve them.   

I hope to make more sense of "Family Business" for anybody working in or with one.   

Anybody choosing to combine a family with a business is nuts.  Almost everything needed to create business success conflicts with the basic needs of a happy family.
Because "Family Business" makes no sense, for every success there are at least 10 failures.  That's sad and, in a lot of cases, entirely avoidable.  
What separates success from failure?  Hint: it's definitely not Luck.
Successful, multi-generational Business Families put a lot of careful thought and effort into doing the right things at the right time, while avoiding doing the wrong things, most of the time: (a) in their business, (b) in their family, and (c) between the two.  
They're committed to achieving long-term peace and prosperity in both their families AND their businesses, and refuse to sacrifice one to benefit or sustain the other.  
This is the essence of Family Business Best Practice - applying proven and relevant knowledge, focus, skill, and discipline to both family businesses and the business families that sit behind them.
This series focuses on family conflict - a primary cause of family business failure - where either the family, the business, or both, fail.  
I'll share my learnings from almost 3 decades of working as a Solutionist with real Business Families - by exploring 50 of the most common causes of conflict I've dealt with.  I'll also explain how to prevent, avoid, and resolve those conflicts.  It's my belief that, for every acknowledged problem, a solution can be found, or constructed.   
My goal is to make more sense of "Family Business" - for family and business leaders; for anyone trapped inside a family business, and for anyone trying to help or advise family businesses.   

We explain the nature and workings of Advisory Baords and why so many business families find them useful.

6 minute overview explaining the nature and purpose of SAN, and how and why it could change your life as an adviser.