Family Harmony After the Gift
Call it the Great Giveaway: Many rushed to complete sizable gifts to their heirs in 2012.
Conflict Resolution and Communication in Family Business
Forgiveness Can Be Good For Business - by Urban C. Lehner
December 18, 2012
The inspirational speaker at the Young Farmer Awards lunch at our Ag Summit in Chicago was Lance Woodbury, a DTN columnist who ranks among the nation's top family-business mediators. His topic...
Reducing The Stress Level In Your Business
August 18, 2012
While some reality television shows have a positive, uplifting message, most shows are based on conflict, tension and stress. TV producers have figured out that the viewing public enjoys the drama...
War and Peace in the Family Business
May 18, 2012
Years ago I facilitated a family business meeting in which two of the ownerbrothers started yelling at one another, then stood up, got in each other's face and almost threw punches. While probably...
Advice for an Amicable Breakup
November 18, 2011
If you follow any of my past articles, you'll see that I seem predisposed to keeping the family business intact. Sometimes, however, it seems too difficult to keep it together. Family history,...
The Consequences of Unresolved Conflict
October 18, 2011
While working on the family farm one summer, my grandmother asked me why our family -- meaning my father and his siblings -- couldn't get along like the family who lived up the road from our ranch. I...
Creating More Certainty in the Family Business
August 18, 2011
Benjamin Franklin said that the only things certain in life are death and taxes. In family businesses -- especially those in agriculture -- there is often much uncertainty: the weather, the markets,...
In-Laws by Marriage, Out-Laws in Business?
July 18, 2011
It seems that every family business has a belief about in-laws and their participation in the family business. Some welcome the in-laws into the operation. Some don't include in-laws in operational...
How to Talk to Your Kids
April 18, 2011
As a parent of three young children, I often wonder about the best way to communicate with my kids. How best to reason with them? How best to get their attention? How best to get them to listen to me...
Getting the Family Business Unstuck
March 18, 2011
Some of the most common frustrations are related to ownership transitions.