Who do business owners admire the most ?

Some recent research that I read stated that the most admired are the straight shooters' that started with nothing, had a belief in what they were doing and maintained their standards even when they achieved success.

The most commonly mentioned business person we can all relate to is Richard Branson.

Most people I ask this question of usually name a friend or someone in their family. If you are the founder of a family business, how do you think the next generation will talk about you when you are gone?

Are you setting the standard for the future generations to maintain as the values and culture that will be the cornerstone of the family business for a long time to come ?

Bill Winter

Make sure your will is up to date

The following is an small example from my new book 33 Essential Insights for Families in Business. I am lead to putting this chapter up as I came across another successful business last week and the two key partners ( Wife and husband ) do have a will.

The chapter is headed:

"Make sure that your will is relevant to the current situation"

I have seen many examples of business owners dying and then the remaining members fo the family finding out that there is no will or a will that was made many years ago that is no longer relevant to the size or complexities of the business at the time of death. Over the years families change, marriages fail, family memebrs run off the rails, some work in the business, others don't.

If you run a successful business then the next generation and the key management should alreday know what happens on the death of the founder. Seek legal advice to ensure that all angles are covered and that the business issues are lined up with the family issues.

The last posting I did is an expample of this.

Bill Winter

Private Company Partnership Agreements

Every director, partner and or shareholders of private companies should read the article in today's press regarding Primo Meats.

I bet that the original founders could never have imagined the situation that is being played out in the courts today. As usual it has been initiated after the death of one of the partners and the divorce of the remaining business partner.

Without knowing all the details, I was attracted to the story by the AGE headline Divorce share battle eats at future of Coles supplier Primo Meats.

I would also suggest that main losers will be the business, its employees and the next generation of family members.

The battle in the family court should make every business partnership review their business and/or family constitution.

Bill Winter

We have had a break

I am back into the daily, weekly and monthly tasks of life again.

My new 33 Essential Insights for Families in Business is about to be printed and another 33 book is nearly complete. This title is 33 Essential Business Insights for Doctors Running a Medical Practice. I plan to produce a least four more titles this year.

In the meantime I am committed to a business turnaround contract for a subsidiary of a large Australian Company. This business is very typical of many family owned business experiencing the problem of how to manage a strategy or the future. Turnover $16- 18 Million and 131 employees. However it is in an industry segment that is dominated by family owned businesses.

It will be an interesting case study as I detail the issues in over time in this blog.

Bill Winter