Summary

In this two part episode, the guests discuss the considerations and communication strategies involved in a family business deciding to sell their business. They emphasize the importance of open and proactive communication within the family system, as well as with external shareholders and the C-suite. The guests also highlight the significance of early planning for the post-sale phase, including identifying purpose and impact beyond the business. They stress the need to address potential regrets and ensure a smooth transition to life after the sale. This conversation explores various aspects of transitioning from a family business to a family office. The speakers discuss the importance of understanding one's skills and talents and how they can translate into new domains. They emphasize the need for careful planning and decision-making, as well as the potential challenges of sudden wealth. The speakers also highlight the value of collaboration and a holistic approach, considering both individual and collective philanthropy. They stress the significance of exploring purpose and impact beyond the sale of the business and the importance of capturing family stories and history.

Takeaways

Open and proactive communication is crucial within the family system and with external stakeholders during the decision-making process and after the sale.

Early planning for the post-sale phase, including identifying purpose and impact beyond the business, is essential.

Considerations for each group of stakeholders, such as family members who own the business but don't work in it, should be taken into account.

Avoiding regret of selling the business involves understanding personal goals and needs, planning for the day after the sale, and addressing emotional and financial aspects.

Preparing for life after the sale includes exploring new opportunities, seeking professional advice, and maintaining open-mindedness. Understand your skills and talents and how they can translate into new domains.

Take time to plan and make wise decisions, avoiding impulsive actions.

Consider the merits of earnouts as part of a transition.

Explore individual and collective philanthropy, finding the right balance.

Start early with transition planning and engage in open and honest family conversations.

Blend for-profit and non-profit activities to create a unified approach.

Capture family stories and history to preserve legacy and values.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introductions

04:03 Considerations in Family Discussions Leading to the Decision to Sell

08:24 The Role of Philanthropy and Impact in the Sale Process

11:16 Importance of Communication within the Family System

17:36 Effective Communication with External Shareholders and C-Suite

21:52 Considerations for Each Group of Stakeholders

27:29 Effective Communication Internally and Externally

36:39 Avoiding Regret of Selling the Business

42:21 Preparing for Life After the Sale

52:56 Understanding Skills and Talents

55:31 Transitioning to a Family Office

56:24 Managing Sudden Wealth

57:18 Taking Time to Plan

58:41 Dealing with External Pressure

59:30 Hiring the Right Expertise

01:00:02 Avoiding Impulsive Decisions

01:01:24 The Merits of Earnouts

01:04:01 Exploring What's Next

01:05:02 Collaboration and Holistic Approach

01:08:38 Discovering Purpose and Impact

01:11:15 Balancing Individual and Collective Philanthropy

01:19:36 Transitioning Identity and Purpose

01:23:22 Exploring Family Dynamics

01:29:11 Start Early with Transition Planning

01:32:05 Blending For-Profit and Non-Profit

01:35:29 The Power of Storytelling and Family History

Summary

In this two part episode, the guests discuss the considerations and communication strategies involved in a family business deciding to sell their business. They emphasize the importance of open and proactive communication within the family system, as well as with external shareholders and the C-suite. The guests also¶. They stress the need to address potential regrets and ensure a smooth transition to life after the sale. This conversation explores various aspects of transitioning from a family business to a family office. The speakers discuss the importance of understanding one's skills and talents and how they can translate into new domains. They emphasize the need for careful planning and decision-making, as well as the potential challenges of sudden wealth. The speakers also highlight the value of collaboration and a holistic approach, considering both individual and collective philanthropy. They stress the significance of exploring purpose and impact beyond the sale of the business and the importance of capturing family stories and history.

Takeaways

Open and proactive communication is crucial within the family system and with external stakeholders during the decision-making process and after the sale.

Early planning for the post-sale phase, including identifying purpose and impact beyond the business, is essential.

Considerations for each group of stakeholders, such as family members who own the business but don't work in it, should be taken into account.

Avoiding regret of selling the business involves understanding personal goals and needs, planning for the day after the sale, and addressing emotional and financial aspects.

Preparing for life after the sale includes exploring new opportunities, seeking professional advice, and maintaining open-mindedness. Understand your skills and talents and how they can translate into new domains.

Take time to plan and make wise decisions, avoiding impulsive actions.

Consider the merits of earnouts as part of a transition.

Explore individual and collective philanthropy, finding the right balance.

Start early with transition planning and engage in open and honest family conversations.

Blend for-profit and non-profit activities to create a unified approach.

Capture family stories and history to preserve legacy and values.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introductions

04:03 Considerations in Family Discussions Leading to the Decision to Sell

08:24 The Role of Philanthropy and Impact in the Sale Process

11:16 Importance of Communication within the Family System

17:36 Effective Communication with External Shareholders and C-Suite

21:52 Considerations for Each Group of Stakeholders

27:29 Effective Communication Internally and Externally

36:39 Avoiding Regret of Selling the Business

42:21 Preparing for Life After the Sale

52:56 Understanding Skills and Talents

55:31 Transitioning to a Family Office

56:24 Managing Sudden Wealth

57:18 Taking Time to Plan

58:41 Dealing with External Pressure

59:30 Hiring the Right Expertise

01:00:02 Avoiding Impulsive Decisions

01:01:24 The Merits of Earnouts

01:04:01 Exploring What's Next

01:05:02 Collaboration and Holistic Approach

01:08:38 Discovering Purpose and Impact

01:11:15 Balancing Individual and Collective Philanthropy

01:19:36 Transitioning Identity and Purpose

01:23:22 Exploring Family Dynamics

01:29:11 Start Early with Transition Planning

01:32:05 Blending For-Profit and Non-Profit

01:35:29 The Power of Storytelling and Family History

Support the Show

The podcast is entirely self-funded by me. I am not looking for sympathy as it is something that I love to do and I have a passion for providing great content for family businesses across the world. Some listeners have asked for ways in which they can support the show, be that through reviews, sharing with friends or a donation. As such I have set up a page that outlines all the ways that you can support what I am doing.

www.fambizpodcast.com/support

Work With Russ

If what I have spoken about in the show resonates and you want to discuss how I can help you and your family business drop me an email: [email protected] or head over to www.familybusinesspartnership.com

Sign up to the Newsletter

You can get podcasts, videos and blogs delivered directly to your inbox by signing up to the newsletter. Head over to www.fambizpodcast.com and sign up now

Summary

In this episode, Fiona Graham discusses the rebranding of Family Business UK and their focus on advocacy and policy. She highlights the key areas in their 2024 manifesto and the importance of long-term planning for family businesses. Fiona also shares insights from Family Business Week and previews the upcoming annual conference, which will focus on people and the challenges faced by family businesses. In this conversation, Russ and Fiona discuss the importance of family businesses and the challenges they face. They delve into topics such as succession planning, governance, communication, and collaboration. They also highlight the need for support and resources for family businesses. The conversation concludes with a call to action for listeners to get involved and learn more about Family Business UK.

Takeaways

Family Business UK has rebranded to become a movement for family businesses, focusing on advocacy and policy.

Their 2024 manifesto highlights key areas such as people, growth, and ownership, with a focus on long-term planning and support for family businesses.

Family Business Week celebrates the achievements and future leaders of family businesses, emphasizing the importance of peer networks and mentorship.

The upcoming annual conference will explore the challenges faced by family businesses, including people issues, skill development, and non-family involvement. Family businesses play a vital role in the economy and society.

Succession planning and governance are crucial for the long-term success of family businesses.

Effective communication and collaboration within the family and the business are essential.

Family businesses need support and resources to overcome challenges and thrive.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Rebranding

03:03 Focusing on Advocacy and Policy

08:26 The 2024 Manifesto

10:17 Key Areas in the Manifesto

19:10 Budget and Election Year

28:49 Highlights of Family Business Week

34:19 Upcoming Annual Conference

02:00 The Importance of Family Businesses

10:00 Challenges Faced by Family Businesses

20:00 Succession Planning and Governance

30:00 The Role of Communication and Collaboration

40:00 Supporting Family Businesses

47:00 Conclusion and Call to Action

Support the Show

The podcast is entirely self-funded by me. I am not looking for sympathy as it is something that I love to do and I have a passion for providing great content for family businesses across the world. Some listeners have asked for ways in which they can support the show, be that through reviews, sharing with friends or a donation. As such I have set up a page that outlines all the ways that you can support what I am doing.

www.fambizpodcast.com/support

Work With Russ

If what I have spoken about in the show resonates and you want to discuss how I can help you and your family business drop me an email: [email protected] or head over to www.familybusinesspartnership.com

Sign up to the Newsletter

You can get podcasts, videos and blogs delivered directly to your inbox by signing up to the newsletter. Head over to www.fambizpodcast.com and sign up now

The podcast is back!

In this short trailer I give you an overview of upcoming episodes.

There are six new episodes in this series.

1 - Family Business UK

2 - Selling the Family Business Pt.1

3 - Selling the Family Business Pt.2

4 - Are you ready to employ Non Family Execs?

5 - The importance of Storytelling

6 - Wealth of Wisdom

I'd love to hear from you as to the topics that are impacting you and that you would like me to cover in future series.

As ever if I can be of assistance, please get in touch

Support the Show

The podcast is entirely self-funded by me. I am not looking for sympathy as it is something that I love to do and I have a passion for providing great content for family businesses across the world. Some listeners have asked for ways in which they can support the show, be that through reviews, sharing with friends or a donation. As such I have set up a page that outlines all the ways that you can support what I am doing.

www.fambizpodcast.com/support

Work With Russ

If what I have spoken about in the show resonates and you want to discuss how I can help you and your family business drop me an email: [email protected] or head over to www.familybusinesspartnership.com

Sign up to the Newsletter

You can get podcasts, videos and blogs delivered directly to your inbox by signing up to the newsletter. Head over to www.fambizpodcast.com and sign up now

Regular listeners of the show will be familiar with all of my guests on this weeks show.

I am joined by Jim Grubman, Denis Jaffe and Kristin Keffeler as they discuss their new book - Wealth 3.0 - The Future of Family Wealth Advising.

In this episode we cover some of the key areas of focus within the book and what it means for families of wealth and in particular those that advise them.

This episode is a special collaborative episode with The Ultra High Net Worth Institute in preparation for the launch of their very own podcast later this year.

I will keep you all updated on that as and when we approach release date.

If you are unfamiliar with the the work that the Institute does I highly recommend that you check out their website: https://www.uhnwinstitute.org/

All four of the speakers on the show are involved in the Institute and we are all very strong advocates for the thought leadership that comes from the Institute, the events that they run and the opportunity for individuals or firms across the globe to contribute to the future of wealth advising for UHNW families.

Support the Show

The podcast is entirely self-funded by me. I am not looking for sympathy as it is something that I love to do and I have a passion for providing great content for family businesses across the world. Some listeners have asked for ways in which they can support the show, be that through reviews, sharing with friends or a donation. As such I have set up a page that outlines all the ways that you can support what I am doing.

www.fambizpodcast.com/support

Work With Russ

If what I have spoken about in the show resonates and you want to discuss how I can help you and your family business drop me an email: [email protected] or head over to www.familybusinesspartnership.com

Sign up to the Newsletter

You can get podcasts, videos and blogs delivered directly to your inbox by signing up to the newsletter. Head over to www.fambizpodcast.com and sign up now

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

The First Noble Truth: be aware that life brings with it many forms of dissatisfaction, frustration, irritation, and many levels of suffering.

The Second Noble Truth: recognise that these different types of suffering are produced by your mind, even if the apparent cause is external. The mind reacts negatively to life experiences that we didn’t want, and does the same when we don’t get things we were hoping for. The Buddha called these wants and dislikes “thirsts”. It is thirsts that cause unhappy states of mind.

The Third Noble Truth: we can learn to cultivate skills that stop our thirsts and thus end our various forms of suffering.

The Fourth Noble Truth: to cultivate these skills we have to follow a path that contains eight components, as follows.

Right Mindfulness: mindfulness is a three-pronged skill with regards to our state or frame of mind. Notice. Pause. Change. Although taught around the world today mindfulness is often misunderstood by its teachers and therefore also by its students, so it is important to learn mindfulness the way it was originally taught, that is, within the wider context we are summarising here. One could say that Right Mindfulness is the development of the ability to notice unhealthy thoughts and feelings, then shift the mind away from these to much wiser ones.

Right Concentration or Focus: if mindfulness is taking the mind away from unhelpful states, then Right Concentration or Focus is its partner. We try to develop the ability to keep our mind on positive or useful states of mind or where we want our mind to be, rather than constantly being distracted, say by emails, passing moods, daydreams, etc. 

To find out more about our unique programme and how it can help you and your family business, please follow this link and download our brochure.

Alternatively, you can email us [email protected]

Copyright 2025 Russ Haworth and Martin Stepek

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

The First Noble Truth: be aware that life brings with it many forms of dissatisfaction, frustration, irritation, and many levels of suffering.

The Second Noble Truth: recognise that these different types of suffering are produced by your mind, even if the apparent cause is external. The mind reacts negatively to life experiences that we didn’t want, and does the same when we don’t get things we were hoping for. The Buddha called these wants and dislikes “thirsts”. It is thirsts that cause unhappy states of mind.

The Third Noble Truth: we can learn to cultivate skills that stop our thirsts and thus end our various forms of suffering.

The Fourth Noble Truth: to cultivate these skills we have to follow a path that contains eight components, as follows.

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH

As with the word Noble above, the Eightfold Path uses a word that needs a little clarification. Each of the eight paths starts with the word Right. In this case it does not mean right as opposed to immoral, so it is not judgemental. Nor does it mean correct as opposed to wrong. It is best thought of as skilful or wise.

The four previous “paths”, covered in previous episodes, relate directly to how we live our lives - our thoughts and feelings, our communication with others, our decisions, and our working life. The next three are the methods or disciplines to use to ensure we do in fact learn to manage our wayward minds.

Right Effort: changing our volatile, conditioned mind doesn’t happen overnight. It took us our entire lifetime to date to become who we are today, so reversing and changing our mindset takes time. Therefore we need to work at it with effort. Again, the word right means skilful. Skilful effort means we don;’t slacken off or lapse, but nor do we exhaust ourselves in too zealous an effort.

To find out more about our unique programme and how it can help you and your family business, please follow this link and download our brochure.

Alternatively, you can email us [email protected]

Copyright 2025 Russ Haworth and Martin Stepek

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

The First Noble Truth: be aware that life brings with it many forms of dissatisfaction, frustration, irritation, and many levels of suffering.

The Second Noble Truth: recognise that these different types of suffering are produced by your mind, even if the apparent cause is external. The mind reacts negatively to life experiences that we didn’t want, and does the same when we don’t get things we were hoping for. The Buddha called these wants and dislikes “thirsts”. It is thirsts that cause unhappy states of mind.

The Third Noble Truth: we can learn to cultivate skills that stop our thirsts and thus end our various forms of suffering.

The Fourth Noble Truth: to cultivate these skills we have to follow a path that contains eight components, as follows.

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH

As with the word Noble above, the Eightfold Path uses a word that needs a little clarification. Each of the eight paths starts with the word Right. In this case it does not mean right as opposed to immoral, so it is not judgemental. Nor does it mean correct as opposed to wrong. It is best thought of as skilful or wise.

Right Livelihood: this always astonishes me. 2500 years ago the Buddha was directly teaching rulers, employers, and employees how to work wisely. In particular he advised against doing work or careers which are inherently cruel or destructive, and if a person has no choice then they should make some amends by doing good in their spare time. This is what in recent years is now called CSR and ESG and “purpose-driven” but the Buddha taught it millennia ago and had a much stricter perspective than we have today.

To find out more about our unique programme and how it can help you and your family business, please follow this link and download our brochure.

Alternatively, you can email us [email protected]

Copyright 2025 Russ Haworth and Martin Stepek

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

The First Noble Truth: be aware that life brings with it many forms of dissatisfaction, frustration, irritation, and many levels of suffering.

The Second Noble Truth: recognise that these different types of suffering are produced by your mind, even if the apparent cause is external. The mind reacts negatively to life experiences that we didn’t want, and does the same when we don’t get things we were hoping for. The Buddha called these wants and dislikes “thirsts”. It is thirsts that cause unhappy states of mind.

The Third Noble Truth: we can learn to cultivate skills that stop our thirsts and thus end our various forms of suffering.

The Fourth Noble Truth: to cultivate these skills we have to follow a path that contains eight components, as follows.

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH

As with the word Noble above, the Eightfold Path uses a word that needs a little clarification. Each of the eight paths starts with the word Right. In this case it does not mean right as opposed to immoral, so it is not judgemental. Nor does it mean correct as opposed to wrong. It is best thought of as skilful or wise.

Right Actions: what we do should be skilful, positive, kindly, and considerate of all involved.

To find out more about our unique programme and how it can help you and your family business, please follow this link and download our brochure.

Alternatively, you can email us [email protected]

Copyright 2025 Russ Haworth and Martin Stepek

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

The First Noble Truth: be aware that life brings with it many forms of dissatisfaction, frustration, irritation, and many levels of suffering.

The Second Noble Truth: recognise that these different types of suffering are produced by your mind, even if the apparent cause is external. The mind reacts negatively to life experiences that we didn’t want, and does the same when we don’t get things we were hoping for. The Buddha called these wants and dislikes “thirsts”. It is thirsts that cause unhappy states of mind.

The Third Noble Truth: we can learn to cultivate skills that stop our thirsts and thus end our various forms of suffering.

The Fourth Noble Truth: to cultivate these skills we have to follow a path that contains eight components, as follows.

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH

As with the word Noble above, the Eightfold Path uses a word that needs a little clarification. Each of the eight paths starts with the word Right. In this case it does not mean right as opposed to immoral, so it is not judgemental. Nor does it mean correct as opposed to wrong. It is best thought of as skilful or wise.

Right Speech or Communications: we not only have to control and skilfully manage our thoughts and our intentions or goals; we also have to ensure that when we communicate these - whether by voice, email, on social media, or even body language - our words and gestures too are thoughtful, wise, and as constructive as possible.

To find out more about our unique programme and how it can help you and your family business, please follow this link and download our brochure.

Alternatively, you can email us [email protected]

Copyright 2025 Russ Haworth and Martin Stepek