February 2017 - Page 2 of 2 - The Solutionist Group

Criteria for choosing trustworthy advisers for families in business

General Concept Professional advisers should be an investment in peace of mind. Basic compliance work excepted, their value should comfortably exceed the cost of their fees, in respect of their contributions to some or all of: Family success – financial, social and reputational. Family harmony – facilitating communication, problem solving and conflict management processes. Family […]

Brainstorming Process

Brainstorming is the best-known and most widely used technique for stimulating creative group thinking and for generating a broad range of options in response to just about any issue or challenge. The process was developed and the name initially coined by Alex Osborne, an American, in 1939. He defined brainstorming to mean: ‘A listing […]

Bob Jane’s Family Feud

“For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26-28) Bob Jane was an Australian icon – a revered racing driver, entrepreneur businessman and multi-millionaire – a classic self-made success story. But where is he now? After 5 years of litigation he’s […]

Australian Sea Lions

A Family Business is like: an Australian Sea Lion because … … they often fail to define the family’s ground rules. Australian Sea Lion (Neophoca cinerea) facts: Kingdom: Animalia; Phylum: Chordata; Class: Mammalia; Order: Carnivora; Suborder: Pinnipedia; Family: Otariidae; Subfamily: Otariinae; Genus: Neophoca; Species: Phew! Sea Lions have external ears; Seals have internal […]

All in the Family: why Succession Planning is Important

Assisting family businesses can involve many complex issues and profound challenges – from resolving sibling rivalry to handling dysfunctional intergenerational expectations. Perhaps no problem is more complex, for both the family and the business, than succession planning. Accountants, acting as trusted advisers, have an important role to play in helping families to resolve issues and […]

12 Simple Secrets of Family-in-Business Success

When we look at family businesses around the world that have proactively maintained and enhanced their collective business interests over many generations, we find that they have usually employed a number of consistent strategies. I call these their “12 simple secrets for success”. Note that these measures apply to families that have worked hard to […]

9 Golden Rules for Preventing Conflict in a Family Business

Conflict = Family Tragedy Newspapers and magazines revel in a constant diet of spectacular family disasters. The wealthier the family, and/or the greater their celebrity status, the better. Neither the riches of Croesus, nor the paid wisdom of their enormously expensive advisers, seem able to stop these families from spiralling towards meltdown. Trashing the family’s […]

7 Reasons why every Business Family needs a Family Office

Leading a successful business is hard; keeping a family happy is harder; doing both at the same time is a challenge fit for heroes, especially when several generations are involved. A modern Family Office is a facility, or collection of resources, that highly pro-active families establish to directly support their members, and to indirectly support […]

The 7 Key Elements of Organisational Success

Organisations that achieve long term, sustainable success invariably have: “a harmonious workplace AND a strong organisation.” Their high trust cultures encourage everyone to help everyone to do a great job – so the organisation’s goals are consistently achieved. Such cultures are the holy grails of every genuine leader and, just like the grail legend, the […]