The Enigmatic “Most Trusted Advisor” (Part Two of Two)

The study focusses on the processes of advisors as they navigate their way through the complex circumstances ever-present in family firms and how they acquire specific characteristics in order to capture the attention and trust of key family members. Then the study follows the subsequent process as the MTAs facilitate the environment to gain “collective attention” of additional family members - with the second hurdle being based on accomplishment of the first. Noting that the “proper attunement to family members constitutes the unshakable...

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The Enigmatic “Most Trusted Advisor” (Part One of Two)

In a study examining the intricacies of the unique role of “most trusted advisor” (MTA) in several family firms, academic researcher Vanessa Strike identifies the processes and characteristics which enable these enigmatic, full-time family enterprise advisors to earn the trust of family members, capture their attention and then facilitate collective change as a result of their earned trust and role in the family enterprise. Published in the September 2013 issue of The Family Business Review and the first study of its kind focused exclusively...

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Practical Advice on the Family Agenda, from the Family Business Consulting Group

In this extremely practical and succinct article, “Who Owns the Family Agenda?” the author outlines early and intermediate ways of going about instituting an agenda in a family meeting. Without patronizing or complicating the matter, the article describes in simple, straightforward terms the beginning stages of developing a family agenda and how a family might progress to a more sophisticated agenda-setting routine. While the topics on a family agenda could easily be endless, the article uses a few real-world examples of common issues faced by...

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Family Foundations: Compensation, Governance and Regulation

Does compensation for directors of family foundations rob those individuals of the “selflessness that sanctions their work” or is it a valid incentive to get family members to participate? This thought-provoking article from Wealth Management addresses the many factors involved in the decision to financially compensate directors of family foundations. While there are glaring differences between the legal regulations of these matters in the U.S. and Canada, the questions surrounding the motives and principles of doing so remain the...

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