Black Friday Sales in the Capital Markets
Everyone enjoys the satisfaction of getting a good deal or taking advantage of a sale. At this time of year, we are bombarded with messages about retailers offering deep discounts. My filtering process...
View ArticleFive New Year’s resolutions for family businesses in 2021
The tumultuous events of 2020 have had a profound impact on family businesses across the country. With many companies furloughing staff, applying for government loans and instituting remote work...
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HBO’s ‘Succession’ isn’t just great TV
Scene: In a gilded townhome several floors above New York’s Fifth Avenue, a family toasts its patriarch’s 80th birthday. Rather than bask in the warmth of his family’s love and respect, the patriarch...
View ArticleGilbane’s 4 pillars of excellence
In early 2019, the leaders of Gilbane Inc., a construction and real estate development firm based in Providence, R.I., held a brainstorming session. “We had virtually doubled the size of the company in...
View ArticlePriorities for family enterprises in a post-covid world
The pandemic has created profound economic, cultural, financial and political dislocation. While many family enterprises are optimistic, they are also aware they must remain flexible in this dynamic...
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Family Business CEOs to Watch 2021
What qualities make a family business CEO exceptional? The short answer is that an exceptional CEO provides the right style of leadership for their particular enterprise at this particular point in...
View ArticleShould you formalize your ESG policy?
With the country consumed by questions of racial equality and signs of a climate crisis building, companies are under increasing pressure to articulate how they handle environmental, social and...
View ArticleA no-nonsense guide to key family documents
When the Caladan family gathered for its biannual shareholder meeting, there were a number of significant topics to discuss. The most important was a clarification of some items in the buy-sell...
View ArticlePatagonia’s Promise
In mid-September, Yvon Chouinard, CEO and founder of outdoor gear company Patagonia, along with his family, made the decision to bring in a new shareholder: Earth. The goal is heady and erudite. Its...
View ArticleTea and alchemy
There’s a promise for a brighter future in every cup of Numi Tea. No, the promise isn’t something you can taste. It certainly isn’t something you can see—that would fly in the face of the organic...
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A rocky road
The Dager family has heard plenty of heartwarming stories from their customers after 110 years of operating Velvet Ice Cream Company in Utica, Ohio. “Because our history is so long, people will give...
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Crisis lessons
Octavian Pilati was 25 years old, sitting in a biergarten in Munich, when he was pressed into duty as de facto crisis manager for his family’s Austria-based forestry business.At the time, the business...
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