Chapter 4

When Consultants Are Called

Not all family businesses produce the kind of overt conflict and turmoil that reaches the headlines and results in failure to perpetuate the family business. This does not mean that the thesis of psychological repair being a motive for entrée into the business is true only for a narrow spectrum of the family business population. The many that do function successfully as both business and family are engaged in an ongoing process of resolution well before the question of succession is raised. In fact, the process for them begins at the moment an entrepreneurial business is designated as a family business by the founder. In these circumstances, the father has already recognized that he has to learn a new role, ...

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