Family Business General Interest Articles – The Solutionist Group

Why Business Families, and Family Businesses, need Boards

Jon Kenfield — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 22:51:26 +0000

Background Family Businesses are the engine room of the Australian economy. They employ over 50% of the Australian workforce and generate over 50% of GDP. Family Business is not small business, although many Family Businesses are small. They also comprise approximately 100 of the 500 largest companies in Australia. Many are large corporations. However, and […]

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“More, or “Meaningful”?

Jon Kenfield — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 23:18:24 +0000

by Jon Kenfield MBO (Note: this is my personal, unauthorised take on what somebody else said). James E Hughes Jr. is a US attorney and the author of several highly influential books about preserving and enhancing family wealth. Hughes postulates that while financial capital provides practical support for multi-generational families, their true wealth lies in […]

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Meeting Facilitation – An Expert Skill to make Meetings More Productive

Jon Kenfield — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 07:50:19 +0000

A Facilitator is a person who makes something easier for others to understand or do. Facilitators also help to make things happen on behalf of others, in circumstances where they have no interest in the outcome. Facilitators should therefore be apolitical, with no personal interest in the outcomes of the meeting. Meeting facilitation requires the […]

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Arbitration Services – Businesslike Efficiency and Effectiveness

Jon Kenfield — Mon, 08 Jul 2019 10:09:14 +0000

Arbitration: Parties to a dispute agree to appoint an independent person (ideally an expert in the subject matter of the dispute) to gather information (using documents and/or in person), to make legally binding decisions about any issues in dispute. Ideally, Arbitration Services are specified in a contract, as part of an agreed dispute resolution process. […]

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Arbitration – Great Process … but use only as intended

Jon Kenfield — Mon, 08 Jul 2019 10:07:44 +0000

The arbitration process has been in use around the world for hundreds of years. In essence, parties to a dispute agree to appoint an independent person (ideally an expert in the subject matter of the dispute) to gather information from all relevant sources in order to make a legally binding decision on the referred issues, […]

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Family Business Plans – The Plan for the Business

Jon Kenfield — Mon, 08 Jul 2019 07:33:09 +0000

“When you don’t know where you’re going, any path will take you there”. Lewis Carroll (ish) Family Plans, and Family Business Plans, are short, medium and long range plans for: (a) the family (10 to 100 years) and (b) the family business (1 to 10 years). They should be developed independently – to emphasise and […]

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Family Office – Agile Family Offices Build Family Success

Jon Kenfield — Sat, 06 Jul 2019 07:23:03 +0000

Family Offices play an important role in both the daily operations, and in the future sustainability plans, of many individuals and business families. Traditional Family Office For hundreds of years traditional Family Offices have been used by ultra-wealthy family dynasties ($100M+) to help build, manage and preserve their wealth, and to protect the family’s reputation. […]

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Family Meetings – A Critical Lubricant and Glue for Family Sustainability

Jon Kenfield — Fri, 05 Jul 2019 07:21:05 +0000

Families that thrive over multiple generations almost invariably ascribe a large part of their success to their ability to have friendly and constructive family meetings. They frequently contrast the work they’ve put into being able to do this with efforts expended by other families that haven’t fared so well. Rather surprisingly, many business families don’t […]

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Family Governance – The Family’s System of Rules for Good Behaviour

Jon Kenfield — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 07:14:25 +0000

Business families, and families with wealth, eventually need to develop and apply some rules by which to operate, so everybody can get a fix and a reality check on their personal and collective expectations and obligations, as core guidelines to help avoid conflict. Governance is a system of processes that combine philosophy, practical intent, ethics, […]

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Family Councils – Sophisticated Leadership for Family Groups

Jon Kenfield — Mon, 01 Jul 2019 07:10:46 +0000

Every sentient organism needs some sort of control centre to direct and manage its functions and to help ensure its survival. The more complex the organism, the more capable (intelligent) the control centre needs to be. A business family is a complex sentient system, which makes it a very complicated organism. As such, it needs […]

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