Private Equity Investing, Portfolio Management and Advisory - Khalil-Ghibran

    We believe that successful family businesses do a good job of anticipating future issues and talking about how to deal with them as a family before they become issues.   Some of the thorniest policy issues that family businesses must deal with include the divorce of a family member, alcoholism and drug abuse, unethical conduct, affairs of family members with employees, a break in trust or confidence, the loss   of rationality of a family member, moral differences, and poor work performance.     Discussing these and other potential issues in family meetings offers several benefits. First, agreeing on solutions to problems in advance helps prevent family members from taking issues personally; decisions can be more objective. Second, family communication and problem-solving skills get stronger.     One way to deal with potential problems is to develop a set of family business policies to guide future decisions and actions in a variety of areas. Here are some ideas that we’ve found

      For many turnaround professionals, regardless of their area of specialty, family owned businesses represent a significant percentage of both their clientele and revenue. Despite all the time, effort and attention they have received, however, family owned businesses in general—and troubled ones in particular—continue to represent a most difficult challenge.  Often, seemingly good advice and common sense are heavily resisted and sound professional work is effectively negated. As a foundation for working with troubled family owned businesses, there are seven strategies that should help to improve the turnaround professional’s effectiveness.   1. Respect the Power of the Family System   The family system is powerful in every family owned business. In the troubled firm, the family system is often so strong that it prevents sound business decisions from being made and implemented. Trained family business psychologists clearly understand the power of the family to interfere with good bu

  We’re often asked – how do the successful business families get that way?     We’re impressed with how often we find them practicing similar methods in achieving their success. We believe that these highly successful family businesses offer lessons valuable to even the smallest and youngest family business.     Here are 9 key factors based on various studie s and our experiences that are common to the most successful family businesses:     1) Selective family employment   Successful family businesses have policies that only provide employment to those family members who are clearly qualified. Selective employment clarifies that working in the business is more an opportunity than an obligation. When family members feel an obligation to work in the family business, they lose motivation.     2) Family meetings   Successful families meet regularly to learn together. They learn about the underlying business, including its history and values, and how to assess its financial perfor

    Essentially a Board should include executives whom you respect and who have the business and personal experience relevant to the key issues that the business must address. Their only interest in your business is that the business is profitable, grows stronger and lasts longer. Here are some attributes to look for when selecting   people to serve on your Board:     Expertise   Every advisor should have specific experience in at least one area to benefit your business. Areas of expertise include technical knowledge of the product or service, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, human resources, finance or management.   It is often helpful to have someone with experience in the same industry.     Willingness to serve   Many business executives would be flattered to be asked to serve on your Board as they would consider it a personal and professional challenge and a way to give back to the business community. Others would not.     A highly qualified person may serve no useful p