Tsitsi Mutendi is the founder and lead consultant at Nhaka Legacy Planning and is also the co-founder of African Family Firms, a nonprofit African Family Business Association. Additionally, she is an award-winning businesswoman with over 12 years of experience building successful publishing and education companies. 

She has coupled her business acumen and passion for family firms with her expertise to include family governance, family communication, and coaching.  Her services include family and business strategic planning, corporate governance, succession planning, business continuity strategies, conflict resolution, and mediation, to name a few. 

Along with this, Tsitsi holds a certificate in family business advisory and family wealth advisory through the Global Family Business Education Network and the FAMILY FIRMS INSTITUTE. She is the host of the weekly podcast, Enterprising Families, which focuses on issues that affect family businesses and the journeys that they encounter as a result of those issues. She has paid it forward by working with the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, Women's Desk, and Tag A Life International (TALI), where she has participated in their annual Mentorship programs and has successfully mentored emerging businesswomen in her community.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Tsitsi's entrepreneurial lineage; she is a third-generation business owner. 
• How the passing of her father led Tsitsi to become a family business consultant. 
• The influence that ancestors and context have on your future success. 
• Family businesses stem from wanting to build a legacy. 
• In the day-to-day of running a business, people can often disconnect from the 'why.’ 
• Tsitsi's father's business that she had to take over after he passed. 
• What it was like for Tsitsi, as a woman, stepping in to take over her father's estate. 
• The impetus for founding the African Family Business Association. 
• Why it is important to have a place where you can find consolidated information about family businesses. 
• What Tsitsi thinks the most difficult part of being a third-generation family business owner is. 
• Conversations about family business are usually about wealth, but they should be about community. 
• Tsitsi's advice for family business owners who do not think about legacy. 
• How Tsitsi thinks about the legacy she will be leaving her children. 
• The importance of understanding the value that children bring to a family business. 
• Why communication is the biggest source of conflict Tsitsi sees with her clients. 
• What members of the African Family Business Association have to gain. 
• Why the baobab tree is so significant for Tsitsi.

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Today we welcome Tracey Bissett onto the show. Tracey is the Chief Financial Fitness Trainer of Bissett Financial Fitness Inc, and her mission is to empower young adults and entrepreneurs to take the reins of their financial lives. She believes that financial literacy can help people take charge of their money and focus on what really matters in life.

To educate her clients, Tracey offers one-on-one and group coaching programs. These programs help them experience business growth, increased monetary compensation, as well as clarity. At a deeper look, her programs are customized coaching sessions that focus on case studies, assessments, and teaching. Having achieved a Masters of Business Administration and Chartered Financial Analyst Designation, the hands-on experience that she offers is built on the foundations of her impressive education. 

As a former TD Bank executive, Tracey has worked with and supported thousands of individuals and entrepreneurs to secure the financing they need. And her efforts and experience haven’t come without praise either. Tracey was named the Silver Award Winner for the IFSE Institute for Financial Literacy Champion through the Wealth Professional Awards of 2020. 

Join us today as Tracey shares valuable tips on how to start striving for financial freedom today, and to hear her take on the importance of financial literacy through the pandemic. 

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Get to know a little more about Tracey Bissett as she explains her interest in financial literacy.
• Tracey tells us when she became aware of and fascinated by money.
• Why it is never too late to take control of your financial life.
• Find out where Tracey’s interest in money started.
• Tracey provides her definition of financial literacy.
• Hear Tracey’s process as she describes working with entrepreneurs and young individuals.
• We find out who Tracey’s ideal clients are and how she can best help them.
• Why the bottom line needs just as much attention as the top line. 
• What Tracey says to those who don’t feel ready for the type of work she offers.
• Some limitations that come with accountants.
• Things you ought to look out for that go beyond financial statements. 
• Tracey’s recommendations for young entrepreneurs thinking about the long haul.
• Hear Tracey’s economic forecast for the future.
• We take a look at what possible positive outcomes can and will come from the pandemic.
• Tracey shares her final words of wisdom.

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Steve Legler is a family business specialist who helps enterprising families create the harmony they need to support the legacy they want. He is also the author of SHIFT Your Family Business, and Interdependent Wealth. Steve was born into a family business, and as the only son of an immigrant entrepreneur, it became clear very early on that he was expected to follow in his dad’s footsteps. Every summer of his teens and the first three years of his work life after university were spent learning everything he could about the business.

He returned again after getting his MBA, more ready than ever for the challenges that awaited him. But then, unexpectedly, within six months, the business was sold to a competitor and went from 250 employees to only four. Steve was left to manage the remaining family assets. Along the way, he also married into a business family, and has seen some of the communication challenges that they have faced over the years. 

Steve has realized how important good communication is for families who want their legacy to continue, as it is transferred to future generations. He appreciates the different roles we play along the way in life which is why he excels as a family business specialist. There are plenty of people advising family businesses about their business issues, but the area that causes so much concern in so many family businesses is not the business, but the family. Steve has some very unique qualifications to help them take control of those important issues.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• The grooming Steve had before taking over his father’s business.
• How the family business had to downscale just as Steve took over.
• Steve’s experience of now finding himself in charge of a family office.
• What a family office is and the range of different models to be found.
• Seeing family offices as being about family and not just family-run businesses.
• The importance of focusing on the family aspect of a family office for intergenerational wealth.
• How COVID has affected family offices and the need for more democratic approaches.
• Finding key positions that fit each sibling as they take over the family office.
• The importance of having regular family meetings and how this is playing out during COVID.
• How valuable the younger generation in a family business is as far as keeping it agile.
• Grooming the younger generation to get interested in business and even start their own one.
• Closing comments from Steve about legacy requiring not just assets but people.

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Dr. Kristen Donnelly wears many hats in her life, including being the COO for her family network of companies, Abbey Companies, which serves a variety of industries worldwide. Started by her father, Roger Nielsen, the torch has been passed to Kristen and her brother, Brian, who are eager to expand the mission of promoting excellence and providing great experiences for their customers and team members. Kristen is also Cofounder and one of The Good Doctors of Abbey Research, where she and her partner seek to educate and engage with empathetic and inclusive communities.

A social science researcher with over two decades of experience, Kristen is also a trained social worker with experience working in non-profits and faith communities. She holds two Master’s degrees from Baylor University and a Ph.D. from the Queen’s University of Belfast, and she is a passionate advocate for education worldwide. After completing her Ph.D., she realized that her passion for serving organizations and her skills as a researcher complemented each other perfectly, and Abbey Research was born.

In this episode, Kristen shares a bit about the history of her family business, how she fulfills the family’s mission statement, how her family relies on radical honesty to help them navigate trauma, and she shares some of the challenges they faced during COVID. Tuning in, you’ll also hear why she believes we should shift the focus from diversity to inclusivity and how not to use diversity as a performative marketing tool, as well as how language reflects your thinking and the importance of building an inclusive business lexicon. All this and more in today’s episode, so tune in today!

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Kristen provides a glimpse into her family business history and how she became involved.
• Hear about some of the products that Abbey Color makes, such as dyes for medical use.
• How Kristen’s education and experience assists her in fulfilling her family’s mission statement.
• Succession and gender roles: how the business responsibilities have been divided between her and her brother.
• What role her mother plays and why Kristen says she is in charge of their hearts.
• Rather than being indoctrinated into the business, she uses the term “intentionally shaped”.
• The value of a unified way of thinking that also allows for a diversity of skills and insights.
• Find out what the family business leans on to help them navigate trauma, including radical honesty and empathy.
• Learn more about the day-to-day of the business, including daily family meetings.
• Why Kristen says she made the intentional decision to raise companies, not children.
• Some challenges Abbey Color faced during COVID: keeping staff safe and getting supplies.
• Pivoting towards inclusive communities and how it fulfills the same family mission statement.
• The global perception of diversity and why she believes we should shift the focus to inclusivity.
• What Kristen believes business should do to activate the conversation without using diversity as a marketing tool.
• Some of the biggest pushbacks she encounters from companies regarding active inclusivity.
• Why Kristen believes language like “whiteness” or “fat” still makes people uncomfortable.
• How language reflects your thinking; build your own lexicon and teach it to your employees.
• Kristen talks about privilege, intention, and why we are all a little bit racist.
• The power of labels; we only lose our humanity when we other those labels.

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Today we welcome serial-entrepreneur Stacey Brown Randall onto the show. As the award-winning author of Generating Business Referrals Without Asking, Stacey has an intimate understanding of how critical referrals can be in growing your business. As she explains in today’s conversation, a lack of referrals is what broke her first business. 

Stacey honed her expertise in landing referrals from working as a top business coach. Her fine-tuned referral process includes recognizing your source of referrals and then nurturing your relationship with these sources. She’s applied her referral process to her own business, leading to astounding success.   

Despite having worked with well-known corporations, her passion lies in helping small to medium business owners and solopreneurs learn how to scale their businesses without overselling or hustling their customers. Reflecting her focus on helping companies grow, Stacey is a host on the Roadmap to Grow Your Business Podcast.

In this episode, Stacey shares how family businesses and sales teams can grow their companies by using her referral method. Another key insight, she also tells listeners how you can introduce your critical business connections to your up-and-coming company leaders so that these relationships can be seamlessly transferred from one generation to the next.    

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Get to know Stacey as we introduce her as today’s guest.
• Stacey shares details about her career and why her first business failed.
• Hear what Stacey learned from her first business and how these lessons helped her build a stronger second business. 
• How Stacey began getting business referrals without having to ask for them.
• We define what referrals are and why they are so beneficial to your business. 
• Why a word-of-mouth recommendation or an introduction is not the same as a referral.
• Advice on filtering out networking opportunities that don’t grow your business. 
• Stacey unpacks the four types of referral sources. 
• How to nurture your relationship with each type of referral source. 
• The importance of knowing where all your referrals come from.
• Strategies that will place you at the top-of-mind for your referral sources. 
• Why the language you use is your secret weapon in landing referrals. 
• Stacey discusses how you can transfer business connections from one generation to the next.
• Insights into building a referral plan through Stacey’s program.

Click Here to Download the Transcript

Today we welcome Nike Anani, an award-winning family business strategist, entrepreneur, and consultant. Rated as a top-100 family business consultant globally, Nike’s mission is to help her clients bridge the gap between senior and younger generations. As a result, her clients walk away with better communication skills and are able to collaborate collectively to gain clarity. 

To increase client profit and productivity, Nike works privately with select business families who choose to engage with, her thanks to her extensive professional training, which is backed by over a decade’s worth of experience. Over the past ten years, Nike has been deeply involved as a business founder and a next-gen, which gives her a unique ability to empathize with both generations and to act as a connector. 

She is passionate about diversity and celebrates every individual, family, and business and the uniqueness of each. Nike’s approach is tailored to each client and creates a personalized and detailed experience for them. 

In this episode, Nike shares her own family business experience, her methods of engaging with family business clients, and describes the nuances of cross-generational family businesses.   

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Get to know Nike Anani a little better as we introduce her as today’s guest.
• Nike tells us about her earliest experiences in a family-owned business.
• Hear about Nike’s experience moving to the UK when she was nine years old.
• What encouraged Nike to spend time in Lagos, and the effect it had on her.
• Nike tells us what inspired her to work with next-gens and their family businesses.
• How Nike helps next-gens future-proof their family businesses.
• How a lack of education and training can impact family business success.
• Sometimes there isn’t interest in continuing the lineage within a family business. 
• Nike shares how she engages family business members in the process.
• Nike touches on her own experiences with tricky family dynamics.
• How ideas of philanthropy are changing among next-gens.
• Hear about how next-gen perceive legacy.
• Ways to get young children curious about business and personal finance.
• The importance of giving children, particularly young girls, exposure to business. 
• Hear Nike’s parting advice for listeners.

Additional Resources:

Website: https://nikeanani.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikeanani/?originalSubdomain=ng

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nikeanani/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nikeanani?lang=en

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1sKSoLVye4VtRA-Sj9WD9g

Sharon Spano:

Website: sharonspano.com

Book: thetimemoneybook.com

Events: sharonspano.com/workshops

Contact: [email protected]

Twitter: twitter.com/SharonSpano

Carl Allen is a world-class entrepreneur, investor, and corporate dealmaker who has worked on more than 330 transactions worth close to $48 billion. In his nearly 30-year career, Carl has analyzed thousands of businesses, big and small, in 17 different countries across nearly every business sector, including technology, pharmaceuticals, transport and logistics, engineering, manufacturing, aerospace, consumer goods and services, business services, retail, professional services, finance, packaging, and corporate clothing.  

Carl first earned his reputation during his 16 years on Wall Street, working for Bank of America, Hewlett-Packard, Forrester, and Gartner. There he advised some of the world’s largest corporations on investments, mergers, acquisitions, disposals, and restructuring, and helped hundreds of business owners raise both equity and debt financing. Until he almost missed the birth of his second son. That’s when Carl quit the rat race and began brokering (and eventually buying) businesses for himself.  

Today he is considered one of the world’s premier experts on buying and financing small business acquisitions. Carl founded Dealmaker Wealth Society (formerly Ninja Acquisitions) because he believes starting a business from scratch is certifiably crazy! He wanted to use his highly-specialized skill set to help others realize that their dream of self-employment didn’t have to be a long, hard, up-all-night slog with a 96% failure rate in 10-years. 

Carl is currently helping thousands of entrepreneurs all over the world buy existing, profitable small businesses that will immediately put money in their pockets. And best of all, he teaches them how to do this without using a dime of their own capital!

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Get to know Carl and hear about his journey from Wall Street to Dealmaker Wealth Society.
• The life-changing moment when Carl’s fifth child was born.
• Insights into what a leveraged buyout is, a strategy Carl commonly used in Wall Street.
• What Carl learned about small businesses and why he was so drawn to work with them.
• The two things Carl does today: private equity partner and coaching.
• Trends Carl has seen with small businesses during COVID; many are flourishing.
• A story of Carl’s friend who pivoted his business and is now thriving.
• The change that has happened with small business succession: children want to go to college.
• Why Carl believes that entrepreneurs should not start businesses from scratch.
• Carl’s impetus for starting Dealmaker Wealth Society.

Additional Resources:

Website: https://dealmakerwealthsociety.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamcarlallen/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dealmakerwealthsociety/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DealmakerWealth

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCcJzIkSSZxECZNtLG7Gteg

Confessions of A Dealmaker Newsletter: https://dealmakerwealthsociety.com/confessions-sign-up/

 Buying Secrets: How to Buy an Established, Profitable Business Using None of Your Own Money:  https://www.amazon.com/Business-Giveaway-Acquire-Established-Acquirer-ebook/dp/B00UC6LRIG

Discount Code: trainwithcarl.com/othersideofpotential

Today we are bringing you another solo cast as a part of the Conscious Community Segment, and our focus for today's show is strategies for managing conflict within family structures and businesses. These ideas are applicable to multiple contexts and can be useful to all family enterprises as well as any size of entrepreneurial endeavor. Although this is a broad and complex subject with many facets and potential scenarios and issues, this exploration serves as an introduction to some simple ways to approach, diagnose, and manage difficult dynamics.

The foundation of the strategies that are discussed here is the idea of the three wealth domains; ownership, family, and business. On top of these, we unpack the three principles of family systems and how these relate to the domains in question. The principles are order, place, and the balance of exchange and by getting to grips with these two simple frameworks for looking at your systems, you will be able to start noticing the patterns that lead to issues, and this is where the magic of change begins!

Listen in today to this illuminating exploration, as we talk about entitlement, nepotism, alignment, human dynamics and so much more. If you want to begin to address some of the problems, both obvious and under the surface, that are plaguing a business system, this is the place to start!

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• The three wealth domains; ownership, family, and the business. 
• Conflict that arises out of a lack of awareness of one's place within the three wealth domains. 
• Aiming for better alignment according to the domains of the business. 
• Understanding the family system and how it works in and out of business.
• The essential glue of the wealth domains and how to manage members' sense of belonging. 
• Three important principles from family systems and businesses; order, place, and the balance of exchange.   
• Adjusting human dynamics according to the needs of the business. 
• Mitigating conflict relating to issues in the order of a system. 
• How 'place' relates to order and the problems that can arise within this context.
• What a disturbance in the balance of exchange can look like and how to counteract this.
• The common issues of entitlement and nepotism within family business structures.
• Identifying and diagnosing patterns and their causes within a system. 
• Avoiding casting blame while addressing systemic issues accordingly.

Tweetables:

“The point is to know when and where conflict is arising and in which domain.” — @SharonSpano [0:04:45]

“We have emotional ties to one another and those ties can often escalate into conflict if we don't know where we belong within the family business system.” — @SharonSpano [0:06:15]

Facebook Posts:

“Most of the conflict I see in business stems from people not knowing where they belong within these three domains.” — Sharon Spano [0:03:32]

“When you know where you belong in each of the three wealth domains you are then positioned to address the situation with far less emotion.” — Sharon Spano [0:06:56]

Sharon Spano:

Website: sharonspano.com

Book: thetimemoneybook.com

Events: sharonspano.com/workshops

Contact: [email protected]

Twitter: twitter.com/SharonSpano

Michael Lamberti is an Integral Master Coach in private practice in Toronto, Canada. He works with clients to help them discover and thrive in meaningful work. He began his coaching practice working with millennials in the early stages of building their careers, helping them to gain clarity when entering the workforce.  

His expertise has now led him to coaching opportunities with NGOs in the Canadian public service. These are the types of organizations that work to better understand how to engage and support the younger generations of employees. 

Unlike many of his contemporaries, who entered the world of coaching later on in life as a second career, Michael began his work as a coach at the age of 28, after working in a job he did not care for. Taking the risk and launching into a coaching career at a relatively young age has paid dividends for Michael because of the unique way he can connect with his millennial clientele.  

Along with his coaching work, Michael also serves as a content producer and social media strategist for Integral Coaching Canada. He is also a member of the ICC Observer Faculty Team. When not coaching, he practices Zen meditation and Chen-style Practical Method, Taijiquan.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Get to know Michael and what inspired him to go into the coaching space.
• Integral Coaching’s framework and what attracted Michael to this specific coaching style.
• Michael’s understanding of what it means to be a millennial.
• Distinctions between older and younger millennials and the influence of technology on these differences.
• Why Michael thinks that the characterization of millennials being obsessed with technology is unfair.
• Michael’s experience working in the insurance industry.
• How millennials view time differently to most of the older generation.
• What Michael would say to a leader opposing a remote workforce at their company.
• The importance of businesses having time and geographical flexibility if they want to attract younger generations.
• There are merits to working in-person if it is intentional and structured.
• Millenials have to be clearer on what they want and the mentorship they hope for.
• Trends Michael has noticed with company loyalty as well as the hiring process.
• Michael’s insights into how companies can make recruitment more people-centric.
• Traits Michael advises family business owners and entrepreneurs to look for in millennials.
• There is a gap in many interviews in terms of gauging the resilience of a prospective hire.
• What Michael believes employers should expect from the millennials they hire.
• Some of the important skills that millennials can gain from the older generation.
• True mentorship is a mutual and reciprocal exchange rather than a one-sided process.
• The need to connect with our values and tie meaning into the work we do.
• Personal and organizational values are unlikely to align perfectly, so be willing to compromise.

Additional Resources:

Website: https://www.mlcoaching.ca/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaellamberti/

Links Mentioned:

Integral Coaching: https://www.integralcoachingcanada.com/

Ken Wilber: https://integrallife.com/

Today’s guest is Kevin Hancock, the Chairman, and CEO of Hancock Lumber. As one of America's oldest family businesses, established in 1848, the company is fully integrated across the forest products and building materials industries. It is headquartered in Casco, Maine, and it is represented by 565 employees who lead the activity of the businesses across nine retail stores, three sawmills, and a truss plant. Hancock Lumber also grows trees on 12,000 acres of Timberland in Southern Maine, and the company is a recipient of multiple awards, including being the six-time recipient of the Best Places to Work in Maine Award, the Maine Family Business of the Year Award, and the Governor's Award for Business Excellence.

Kevin is also considered a pillar in the industry, as is evidenced by a diverse range of acknowledgments of his own, such as the Ed Muskie ‘Access to Justice’ Award or the Habitat for Humanity ‘Spirit of Humanity’ Award. Also an award-winning author and public speaker, Kevin’s first book, Not For Sale: Finding Center in the Land of Crazy Horse, won three national book awards and his second book, The Seventh Power: One CEO’s Journey into the Business of Shared Leadership, was published in February 2020.

In this episode, Kevin shares his wealth of wisdom about the business of shared leadership, from creating a safe community for people to feel trusted, respected, valued, and heard to building companies that exist to serve the people that work for them. Tuning in, you’ll find out about the systems that Kevin has in place to ensure that his employees feel trusted, respected, valued, and heard, and how this philosophy has positively impacted the company’s bottom line, as well as his advice for those with the strength to think differently about developing human potential. Tune in today!

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Get a glimpse into the ancestry of the family company, Hancock Lumber.
• How, despite having other interests, Kevin came back to the business when his father fell ill.
• The challenges of that generational transition, when Kevin took over from his father.
• Breaking through into his own authenticity and acknowledging that he was part of a much larger economic system.
• What Kevin realized he had to do differently when he was forced to lead without speaking.
• The seventh power; what it is and how it has impacted Kevin’s perspective of leadership.
• What it looks like to have 500 people leading a company and the safe community it creates.
• Kevin asks what it would be like if everyone on earth felt trusted, respected, valued, heard.
• Why they are a lumber company that grows trees: being smart about consumption is key!
• How Kevin’s vision for the company is different to that of his forefathers: the company exists to serve the people that work there.
• The systems in place to ensure that employees feel trusted, respected, valued, and heard.
• How Keven’s philosophy has impacted his bottom line, including increasing performance.
• Kevin talks about his book, The Seventh Power, and the seven lessons about dispersing power in the age of shared leadership.
• Kevin shares his perspective on the evolutionary period that humankind is currently in.

Additional Resources:

Website: https://kevindhancock.com/

Company: https://www.hancocklumber.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-hancock-6bb0501a1/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kevindhancock/