Uncategorized – The Solutionist Group

Cause 33: Silence & Secrecy

Jaimee — Tue, 26 May 2026 06:01:33 +0000

Silence, Secrecy & the Hidden Conflicts That Derail Family Businesses Family businesses rarely fall apart because of loud arguments, explosive fights, or dramatic confrontations. More often, they unravel quietly — through the things that are not said. As you put it in the episode, “in a family business, it’s really what’s not said that causes […]

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Cause #32 Bloodline Rivalry

Jaimee — Tue, 19 May 2026 05:59:34 +0000

Bloodline rivalry is one of the most underestimated and misunderstood sources of conflict in business families. As Jon Kenfield explains, “bloodline rivalry is like the grown‑up version of sibling rivalry” — a natural childhood dynamic that, if left unmanaged, can evolve into a powerful and destructive force across generations. While sibling rivalry helps children learn […]

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Cause #31 Marriage & Divorce

Craig — Wed, 13 May 2026 21:07:28 +0000

Marriage, Divorce & Blended Families — The Hidden Fault Lines in Family Businesses Marriage, de facto relationships, separation, divorce, and blended families are deeply emotional life events — but inside a family business, they become something even more complex: system‑wide disruptions that can reshape loyalties, destabilise governance, and expose the business to financial and legal […]

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Cause #15: Broken Wing Syndrome (BWS) in Family Business — What It Is, Why It Happens, and How to Fix It

Jon Kenfield — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:02:32 +0000

Broken Wing Syndrome (“BWS”) is when a well-meaning parent over-protects an under-performing adult child, unintentionally entrenching dependence and low resilience. In a family business, that over-protection warps decision-making, erodes accountability, poisons culture, and often explodes during succession. The fix: recognise the pattern, depersonalise it, and restructure roles, support and governance so the individual (and business) […]

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Family Business Conflict Video No 12: Emotional Resilience 1 – Broken Wing Syndrome. By Jon Kenfield

Jon Kenfield — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 01:37:34 +0000

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 12. Emotional Resilience and “broken wing” syndrome – Parents & Family. Emotional Resilience = coping with stress and minimising anxiety. Epidemic. Broken Wing Syndrome = parent(s) protecting weaker children. Contributed to by genetics, home, school & social evironments, birth order, parenting skills, domineering […]

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Business Family Alignment – the Family Plan

Jon Kenfield — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 02:30:49 +0000

Throughout the Western world, less than 5% of all family businesses survive the third generation curse: “from shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations”. The 5% that do make it through often proceed for many generations – in clear evidence that they’ve worked out and applied something really important to their family about sustainability […]

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Difficult Family Conversations – 10 Key Issues

Jon Kenfield — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 02:26:58 +0000

Security: physical, emotional and financial, sit at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. Situations that challenge your sense of personal security are therefore likely to create feelings of insecurity and discomfort, which is why many of us are reluctant to initiate conversations likely to start, or to become, difficult. The expectation that a […]

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Parenting Styles and Family Business

Jon Kenfield — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 22:42:20 +0000

“As ye sow, so shall ye reap” Recent conversations with other family business advisers confirm increasing exposure to business families with serious “fossilisation” issues. Naming no names, the problem seems most prevalent in families with seriously aged founder/owners (70 and 80-year-olds) from traditional European backgrounds. However, they don’t own all of this space – it’s […]

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Risk Management for Business Families

Jon Kenfield — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 22:38:59 +0000

A key characteristic of all enduring business families is their willingness to do whatever is necessary to adequately and appropriately manage all significant risks and threats to their continuity, as a family group. This applies however the group re-invents itself, from generation to generation. Conversely, the most common cause of business family failure is the […]

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Bob Jane’s Family Feud

Jon Kenfield — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 22:29:22 +0000

“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 […]

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