Family owned and privately held businesses are the economic backbone and social fabric of our global economies. They represent over 80% of businesses in most countries. They are everywhere around us from the corner pharmacy, to the sporting goods supplier, from the vast family farm to the multi-service conglomerates. But they come with a unique set of challenges when the businesses are bonded by blood and generation’s co-habitate. (John Davis) You know every kind of organization has its own challenges. But when you mix a family with a business and it has ownership control of the company the typical challenges that come up are, you know, what values are really going to drive this business? You know, is it going to be the family’s values or the businesses values, or a combination of them? And to what extent are we going to emphasize merit and performance vs. family relationship in how we run this thing? (Philippe de Gaspe Beaubien) One of the big challenges is preparing the next generation to take on the responsibilities that come with the ownership and the business that they inherit. Another one is the elders, the older generation, who start the business. And they like being busy there, and they like to control things, like myself. And learning to let go, learning to bring in other people. Learning to prepare to go to another career is a big challenge that family business face. (Narrator) Strong enterprising families make strong communities and these family owned businesses deserve and need proper support in order to anticipate and face challenges from multi-generational and extended family partnerships, who must balance business success and family harmony. (Video clip) I wanted the three of us to get together today because there seems to be an air of trouble between you two. The trouble is sitting right next to me. I can’t help it if you can’t take the truth. Wake up and smell the tea. It’s wake up and smell the coffee. Whatever. (Philippe de Gaspe Beaubien) Harmony doesn’t necessarily happen easily, but it’s possible and it has to be done in family businesses. They have no choice, they are locked together for better or for worse, and they’ve got to find a way to resolve their issues. Other employees when they find such issues, when they don’t like it, they say to hell with it, I’m going to go work for somebody else. But when you’re in a family business, and your name is on the door, you’ve got a commitment there. You’ve got a commitment, so you have to find a way to do it. (Narrator) In order to support family enterprise growth, development, and succession planning for next generations, Business Families Foundation, or BFF, is a not-for-profit, charitable organization that develops and distributes innovative, multi-media education that provides family members and those working with them the learning resources they need to anticipate and address their issues and challenges. (Pascale Michaud) Our mission is really to empower those enterprising families to absorb and to use in their daily lives simple, yet very effective tools to address, understand and manage their issues of communication, growth and transition. (John Davis) BFF is really focusing on the family foundation to a family enterprise and it’s doing it through world class, very impactful learning materials and its program learning method that blends classroom and distance learning to really be able reach all kinds of market segments from the affluent to the small and medium sized enterprises, business leaders to the next generation members, they’re finding a way to get these essential messages to the people who need them. (Narrator) Using a multifaceted collaborative approach, BFF connects business families with a wide range of effective educational solutions, from online courses that allow participants to begin addressing their business families challenges right now, to multi-day workshops delivered with BFF partners that allow families to learn and solve issues together. (Pascale Michaud) The fore mark is that we serve the medium and large sized enterprising families, what we call the complex families, then the small and medium sized families in business, the professionals across disciplines working with all those enterprising families and the next successors, the youth that will then lead us into the next set-up of community driven projects and corporations. (Narrator) The BFF learning philosophy puts participants at the heart of the educational experience to increase their retained learning and ensure they have tools to implement at least one meaningful and sustainable change for themselves and their family enterprise after taking a BFF program or course. (Anthony Basile) The biggest challenge in running a family business is the family. (Paul Darley) My father ultimately said look, I can’t pick a president from this next group, and I’m not going to rule from the grave after I’m gone. (Kristi Swett) I think my role in the company is still something I’m trying to figure out. I don’t know if it’s so much obligation, I feel like I want the family business to continue and I want it to continue to grow as still being a family business. (Pankaj Dinodia) I got my hands dirty in the business, saw how my relationship with my father, my uncle, my grandfather, my sister would be. (Rafael Tejeda) construct the honesty that helps in tough decisions with a good way of communication. (Guenter Hubert) My mom knew that it was time, time to retire, and we found out later on that my dad was actually suffering the early signs of Alzheimer’s. (Kathy Hubert) So it was not my father in law that was totally talking, it was his illness, fear of retiring, being a business person all his life. (John Davis) I think one of the biggest lessons that people get when they learn about family enterprise, family business, is that the problems the challenges of family companies and of families are pretty universal. They differ a little bit culture to culture, but by and large, they’re the same and there’s a lot that families can learn from one another, and BFF is families teaching other families. (Nan-B de Gaspe Beaubien) You have to be a good communicator, but you have to have an attitude that says I accept you. And I want you to be a true, open, whole member of this family. And I think once you do that, then it makes all the difference. (Narrator) Family owned businesses around the world need to know they are not alone, and there is support for them in facing challenges. Their issues are universal. BFF provides a gateway to powerful educational experiences that help family enterprises address their unique challenges to support both their family harmony and their business success. To learn more about BFF, visit gotobff.org.