Last Sunday I took my 8 year old daughter to the cinema, to watch the latest Disney animation film, called Elemental. I thought I was up for a couple of hours of mindless fun. Little did I know, that the main story was about a family business and the succession planning issues that one finds …

Continue reading Elemental

It is a common mistake that high achievers and technically sound persons are promoted to leadership positions. Many find it difficult to do the so called "mindset jump" and so they end up feeling excluded for the teams they are supposedly leading, being constantly pulled in different directions and constantly solving daily operational issues. Many …

Continue reading Your first enemy is Yourself

It could be the heat, it could be stress or it could be ingrained in our cultural background, but something that strikes me is that many business leaders fail at communicating with kindness. Communication is already difficult in itself. I lost count how many times I have gone to meetings, gone through endless traffic, only …

Continue reading Communicate with Kindness

In theory, most leaders know how important it is to delegate challenging tasks to employees both to help them grow and create a collaborative, empowered and productive teams. As i said, in theory! In reality, when faced with real workplace demands, it can be tough to put this into practice. Many of my clients say …

Continue reading Mistakes are necessary

As you know, I keep repeating that one of the main common weaknesses of various family businesses is that they are stuck in an operator's mindset, whereby the ownership and leadership of family businesses are completely overtaken by dealing with daily, operational matters and rarely ever find any time to look around them and position …

Continue reading IKEA – A case study that underlines the importance of a strategic mindset

This year, EMCS turns 40. A great milestone. However this set me thinking about what makes businesses stand the test of time. Below are some insights from leading research. Research indicates that businesses that stand the test of time, have the following common ingredients. These are a (i) A Sense of Purpose (ii) Good Servant …

Continue reading EMCS turns 40 – What makes businesses stand the test of time?

Below is the famous quote from Warren Buffett. As I keep repeating to clients - always balance the cost of my fees to the value I bring along as a family business consultant. So what is the value I bring along? Many times family businesses would be interested in my services when faced by two …

Continue reading The value of an external family business consultant

I still see many business, including family businesses, that have the perception that training is an optional extra rather than a core necessity. To be honest, training on technical matters easily takes place, like training on a new accounting software. Where training is considered a nicety, is with regards what we once referred to as …

Continue reading Training – A Critical Requirement

I have seen it happen over and over again. As family businesses approach a generational transition conflict can very easily arise. The source of this conflict is normally the different ideas and views between the older generation and the younger generation - with the usual clash of tradition versus innovation OR continuity versus change. On …

Continue reading Is the Legacy of a Family Business an Enabler or an Inhibitor?

Disney. Who has not heard about Disney? It the world's most revered entertainment and media company. Disney is a company that doesn't really need much introduction. Everyone knows its theme parks created by its founder Walt Disney. It kind of embodies this American nostalgia. It's this iconic brand. Disney is the largest media company in …

Continue reading Disney – A case study of how Succession will go wrong if not carefully planned for