EMPLOYING A SPOUSE There are as many good arguments for having a spouse in your business as there are against it. I, for one, will not touch that issue with a ten-foot pole. But, like the sibling rivalry issue, we are dealing with the potential of professional and personal boundaries becoming blurred. The potential for disaster is obvious; we have all seen or heard horror stories. How do couples work, and there have been some great examples, such as Lynda and Stewart Resnick, Owners of Fiji Water. When they bought Fiji Water in 2004, the water was primarily sold at hotels and high-end restaurants. Mr. Resnick took hold of manufacturing and operations and Ms. Resnick, marketing and advertising. Now Fiji is sold far and wide.
enables them to learn the business from the ground up and earn the respect of their fellow employees.
ENTITLEMENT We hear this word often associated with a trait among millennials in the workplace. However, it is rampant in family businesses. And not only associated with children expecting to inherit the enterprise without necessarily having earned it. It is also a form of entitlement when the founders believe they are entitled to call the shots until they die. Both paradigms can leave the business, its employees, suppliers and the community at risk. One of the best ways to deal with entitlement is to have strict performance and advancement guidelines that treat all employees and management equally. For example, the Molson family is famous for making all family members who wish to join the company put in their time in entry-level positions. Doing so
It is only natural for parents to want to see their children inherit the benefits of their hard work. However, as we mentioned earlier, deep-seated emotions related to acceptance and approval of the parental figures can lead siblings to make irrational business decisions, such as undermining each other's efforts in an effort to seek parental approval. Fiducia Partners often mandates that family members work outside the family business, allowing them to achieve personal success elsewhere, which is the key to aiding siblings to form their own sense of competence apart from their parents. SIBLING RIVALRY
Having frank and strategic conversations around matters
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