The emotional side of family businesses

IT'S often intriguing how family businesses are able to mesh emotional with pure business considerations to generate original and exceptional performance. One of the first academics to highlight this phenomenon was Kellogg School of Management professor John Ward in his 2010 book Family Business as Paradox.

To paraphrase his arguments, a family business is, by its very nature, a living contradiction. Successful, multi-generation family businesses have figured out how to manage these contradictions and in many cases turn them into the secret of their success in a world filled with dozens of paradoxes.

The edge of a family business is thus their learned ability to operate in loose, uncertain environments filled with contractions and dilemmas. In particular, their ability to navigate the treacherous emotional dimensions makes them exceptional competitors over the long term. Tongue in cheek, many family business specialist…