Quiet, attentive listening doesn’t always come naturally to us. When we talk over others or just do not take a few minutes to listen - we might waste hours — or months — as we push things in the wrong direction. Why, then, is it so natural for us all to try to dominate conversation? …
Author: Silvan Mifsud
Easter & Succession Planning
If one where to sit down and think, you would conclude that Jesus Christ was likely to be the best at drawing up a succession plan. He realised that succession planning is not an event but a journey. Thus, he started from Day 1 building his core team - The Apostles. He spent 3 years …
The Operator’s Mindset epidemy across generations
A common situation I see in family business is the following. An old generation with an ingrained true owner-operator mindset in the classic sense, familiar with all day-to-day details of the family business and focused almost exclusively on daily operators. Then the next generation comes along. Many times I see next generation family business leaders …
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Mindset is everything
As I am just 2 days away from turning 47, I wanted to share a life reflection which is so relevant for one of the main limitations I find in family business owners and leaders. Mindset is everything. If that statement seems too strong, consider that we bring so many basic assumptions to every decision …
Why do family businesses fail to change?
I spend most of my time running from one family business to another, preaching to them that they need to change. That they need to become more professional in their approach, that their leadership needs to become more strategic and less operational, that they need to become more data driven in the way they decide …
Corporate Governance in Family Businesses
I was recently reading a Times of Malta article on publicly listed equities on the Malta Stock Exchange. It highlighted some reasons why Maltese Investors shy away from buying equities (shares). All the examples given find their root cause in Corporate Governance, or in this case, the lack of it. The topic of corporate governance …
The Labour Market
It has become a constant topic of any meeting and discussion with business owners. The huge headache business owners have in retaining employees and finding new ones. It seems a discussion on a never ending loop as it keeps being repeated, day in, day out. On one hand, businesses have to up their ante, to …
Difficulty in Persuading Others?
From one meeting to another, family business owners all grumble on the huge "headaches" they have with staff members. In many instances, these so called "headaches" are because they are finding it increasingly difficult to persuade staff members on how they can work better, be more efficient, improve their performance or be better team players. …
Maintaining Customer Loyalty during an Inflationary Period
Many businesses are facing on a daily basis, in times of inflation and economic uncertainty, the situation of having customer expectations increase. Research indicates that a common mistake done by businesses is the lack of realisation of how customers expect more openness and transparency in periods of high inflation, rather than less. Conversely, businesses that …
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Dealing with constant change
Today we close Module 2 of the Award in Leading a Family Business accredited course. Today's last session is a tutorial based on a case study of a family business which is at crossroads as to what strategic decision it needs to take, to keep growing. This 2nd module was all about strategy. It covered …
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