Jan Southern is a trusted business advisor with Ferguson Alliance.
She brings more than four decades of hands-on experience helping companies strengthen their operations, improve efficiency, and uncover what’s really happening inside their business.
We recently interviewed Jan so that you can get to know her better and learn more about her background, her approach, and the perspective she brings to the family businesses we serve.
Here is Jan in her own words.
After more than four decades in this field, I’ve learned that every company has its own story and every story has opportunities waiting to be uncovered.
My Unusual Path to Family Business Advisory
I started my career in a bank while I was still in college, working my way up from the drive-thru teller window to head of operations.
I didn’t know it then, but those early years taught me how businesses really work, not on paper, but in practice.
After my ex-husband graduated, we moved to Dallas, where I became a corporate cash manager.
Not long after, I joined John Floyd and Associates, a family-owned business.
Honestly, I thought I’d be there for a short time.
I ended up staying for 42 years.
Those decades shaped everything about my approach: practical, people-first, and grounded in how work actually gets done, not how someone thinks it gets done.
When I left, I thought I’d relax for a while.
Turns out, retirement is not for me.
About a year and a half later, Rob Ferguson and I crossed paths, though I can’t remember whether I found him or he found me.
Either way, I knew I still had more to contribute.
Why Business Process Re-Engineering Matters 
My strongest area of expertise is business process re-engineering.
That means stepping into an organization and asking one core question:
“What is really happening here?”
You start at 30,000 feet, looking at the big pain points, but you don’t make decisions from that height.
What leaders think is happening is often just a symptom of something deeper.
To understand the real issues, you talk to people.
All of them.
I’ve interviewed entire organizations and if there were 150 employees, I talked to 150 employees.
Not just the managers.
Not just the high performers.
Everyone.
Because Louise might say, “This is how we do it,” but Sally will say, “Well, that’s not the way I do it.”
You listen.
You look at the data.
You ask more questions.
And you never assume you know the answer until all those pieces come together.
Only then can you make recommendations that are grounded in reality, not assumptions.
The worst mistake in process work is walking in believing you already know the problem.
You don’t. Not yet.
The Human Side of the Work
Some people think process improvement is all spreadsheets and workflows.
It isn’t. It’s people.
You have to be able to walk into a room—even when the people in that room don’t want you there—and ask the right questions.
You need a thick skin and a love for conversation. I’ve always said: I can teach someone how to solve a problem, but I can’t teach them how to recognize one.
One of the best advisors I ever trained didn’t know anything about our business at first.
What he did have was a sensitivity to people. He could walk into a room and say, “There’s an issue here.
I may not know what it is yet, but I know I need to ask questions.”
That instinct is priceless.
What Forty-Five Years Have Taught Me
Across my career—working both domestically and internationally—I’ve helped family and non-family businesses become more efficient, more profitable, and more sustainable.
If I had to summarize 45 years in one sentence, it would be this:
Every business can be better than it is today. You just have to be willing to ask the right questions and listen to the real answers.
That’s the work I love.
That’s the work I’ll keep doing.
If you’re looking to strengthen your processes, improve efficiency, or get clearer on what’s really happening inside your business, we can help.
Reach out to schedule a confidential, no-obligation conversation with one of our advisors.