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 …
Strategic Foresight
I frequently find myself in conversations with family business owners and whenever I bring up the importance of strategic planning, I often get a puzzled reaction - Why should I spend time in strategic thinking in a world that is constantly changing? It feels like trying to see the future by looking at a crystal …
Strategic Planning
As the 1st Blog Article for 2024, I would like to focus on strategic planning. You may recall that almost a year ago, we as EMCS, together with the Malta Chamber and the Family Business Office had presented a survey, which with regards strategic planning had shown the below situation:- In many family business I …
Being a relevant Leader in 2024
There was a time where business leadership was about getting people to do what you want with clear orders and strict monitoring. That era has gone once and for all, as its been quite a while (some decades) that people require more than just a place to earn a living from work. They want to …
Which Family Businesses Succeed?
A recent research article my McKinsey outlined a number of critical mindsets and strategic actions that are the fundamentals which allow family businesses not only to succeed but to also outperform other non-family businesses. The article is some 15 pages long and knowing how everyone is time pressed I am providing a summary below. The …
Get down from the Hamster Wheel
My constant challenge when advising family business owners and leaders, is to make them understand that spending ALL their time on dealing with daily operational matters will eventually mean that they are driving themselves and their business down a narrow and dark alley. I see many family business owners act like a hamster on a …
Board of Directors Simulation Workshop
Yesterday, as part of the Award in Leading a Family Business Course, we had a Board of Directors Simulation Workshop. Participants were divided in teams, with each team representing a distinct Board of Directors. All teams were presented with a family business case study. The case study was about a family business that had challenges …
Upskilling
This morning I was invited to a speak at a conference organised by the Malta Institute of Management entitled "Malta's Present & Future Economic Growth". As always the issue of productivity cropped us. As we all know we need to build Malta's economic growth model towards achieving higher productivity levels by being able to generate …
Resistance to Openness
At the start of each input lecture of the "Award in Leading a Family Business" accredited course, I remind participants that the family businesses that succeed in the long term are those keen on learning, looking for new ideas and asking the right questions, those that stick together no matter what and those that are …
ESG for SMEs
Yesterday we had the 2nd session as part of the Award in Leading a Family Business accredited course. The main theme covered in this 2nd session was Corporate Governance. During this session I asked the participants if they ever heard about ESG (Environment, Social and Governance), since Governance is one of the elements of ESG. …
A Business Blog for SMEs & Family Businesses 