Posts by
Rob Ferguson
Accounting keeps the numbers straight. Finance uses those numbers to create opportunities. In many mid-sized family businesses, one person handles both, and the forward-looking work gets left behind. Here’s how to tell the two apart and strengthen financial leadership in your business.
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Waiting for everyone to agree is one of the most common reasons family business decisions stall. Learn the four ways to make a decision, why collaborative works best, and how to write your approach down.
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Strategy gives your team something to measure decisions against, without it, priorities shift monthly and meetings turn into debates. We break down the three-horizon framework we use with family business clients, and why business strategy and family strategy can’t be built separately.
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The average family business lasts about 24 years, roughly one founder’s career. Succession planning, done early, is the single biggest lever a family has for beating those odds. Here’s what a real plan actually covers, and why most families can’t do it alone.
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Most family businesses don’t fail from a lack of hard work, they fail from a lack of structure. Discover the Prosperity Model: the one foundational decision and six fundamentals that determine whether a family business survives past the next generation.
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For most family business owners, 70–90% of their net worth is tied up in the business, yet few know what it’s really worth or whether it could run without them. This post breaks down the Four Cs that drive 75% of your valuation and why reducing owner-dependence is the key to building a business that can be sold, passed down, or stepped away from on your terms.
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Political fiefs. Disengaged teams. Bickering leaders. These are signals, not just complaints. Learn how to recognize a people problem in your family business before it costs you revenue, culture, and your best employees.
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Family leaders trust each other. Executives know the business inside and out. But neither group is built to challenge blind spots or bring in outside experience. That’s what an advisory board is for, if you put the right people in the room. Here are 8 questions to ask before you do.
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Most advice on governance assumes more is better, but overbuilding it can be just as costly as neglecting it. The right amount depends entirely on where your business sits in its lifecycle. Here’s how to know when to add structure, and when to hold off.
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It looked like a strategy problem. But the real issue was governance, how they made decisions. Here’s how fixing that saved both the business and the relationship.
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