Seven ways for preparing the next generation to lead the family and the business ... to the next, and the next generation.
- Be a model of leadership yourself.
- Demonstrate honor and respect for family members who are leaders.
- Provide younger family members with opportunities to lead.
- Encourage the development of individual & innate leadership styles, recognizing that all leadership is not same. Gabrielle Gillfords, Martin Luther King, Oprah Winfrey, Ronald Regan, General Patton, and Steve Jobs were all leaders with distinct effective leadership styles and traits.
- Encourage their involvement in leadership activities elsewhere – school, professional associations, in the community, etc.
- Encourage the attitude of “What do I want to accomplish for the family and in the business?”
- Help them learn to identify leadership opportunities within and outside the family business.
2 comments:
These are great points. But I want to give emphasis to the importance of acknowledging the variations when it comes to the forms of leadership. ‘Good governance’ is significantly needed. But we cannot limit what those two words mean. For a family business to survive, a good leader is important. But being in that top position, I think, the best thing you can do is make the intentions of your family business clear to every member. It all starts with intention, then follows actions fueled by passion and guided by ethics.
- Faith Goss
Thank you for sharing. Family business leadership is often a family’s biggest challenge. The leader must posses the required training, experience and aptitude for their roles as well as the skills to manage the inevitable conflicts that arise.
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