What education should family members receive, and from whom?
Good governance of a family business is a combination of corporate governance and family governance. The objective of family governance is informed and connected owners. Education of family members—about their business, about management and governance, about relationship skills—can fairly be described as the keystone of family business governance. As boards have governance committees, so do family councils have education committees. They draw on family elders for family lore, business history, and anecdotal lessons from the past. They draw on management of the family business to familiarize family members with technical and strategic aspects of the company. And families have at their command a cottage industry of family business professionals to advise on the wide variety of technical, financial, personal, and health issues that inevitably arise in the life of a family business. For more information, please see “Outside Legal Counsel and Non Public Companies” by Dennis P. Wilbert.
Good governance of a family business is a combination of corporate governance and family governance. The objective of family governance is informed and connected owners. Education of family members—about their business, about management and governance, about relationship skills—can fairly be described as the keystone of family business governance. As boards have governance committees, so do family councils have education committees. They draw on family elders for family lore, business history, and anecdotal lessons from the past. They draw on management of the family business to familiarize family members with technical and strategic aspects of the company. And families have at their command a cottage industry of family business professionals to advise on the wide variety of technical, financial, personal, and health issues that inevitably arise in the life of a family business. For more information, please see “Outside Leagal Counsel and Non Public Companies” by Dennis P. Wilbert.
