Concrete Steps Towards Finding a Balance

Listen to Raphael Amit discuss different governance systems that can help both the family and the business.

So it’s been my experience, and I’ve been fortunate to learn a lot by having worked with families since I guess 1991, a long time ago, and also at the Wharton school, heading up a substantial research program, it’s part of the Wharton Global Family Alliance centre, which I chair, and my main observation is that in order for families to successfully manage those trade-offs, if you will, and manage an effective way to balance the various issues, developing early on a governance system, both for the family as well as for the business can address, enable the family to address pro-actively the various issues that are on the minds of family members and thereby having much smoother way, on an annual basis perhaps, to engage family members to understand where they stand, to listen to them through family institutions, such as a family council, such as an owners council, to communicate with the board of the operating company, so that the various issues are on the minds that concerns the family members are reflected in the business decision and the governance decisions that the board of directors and management of the operating company is making.