Leading a Family Business: Best Practices for Long-Term Stewardship

Leading a company is a much different experience for those in a family-run business than for their contemporaries in nonfamilial environments. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the skill set and mindset required to lead family enterprises, and it introduces the four critical areas in which family businesses differ from traditional companies—management structures, governance mechanisms, entrepreneurial advantages, and stewardship practices.

In a fascinating convergence of entrepreneurship, family relations, and corporate principles, the authors present two frameworks to better understand the best practices of leading a family business: a firm-level frame focused on these four critical areas of difference (architecture, governance, entrepreneurship, and stewardship) and an individual one that mirrors these in terms of the skill set and mindset successful leaders need to develop. Craig and Moores consider the differences between leadership in family enterprises and non-family enterprises; the entrepreneurial capabilities needed by executives in family-based firms; and the use of power, identification, and motivation in managing their responsibilities both at home and in the workplace. Case studies provide a real-life look at the inner workings of family operations across the globe.