Fishman - 9 elements of family business success: a proven formula for improving leadership & relationships in family businesses

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Allen E. Fishman is the bestselling author of Seven Secrets of Great Entrepreneurial Masters: The GEM Power Formula for Lifelong Success. He is the founder and CEO of his family business, The Alternative Board (TAB), the worlds largest business peer board and coaching franchise system. As a noted expert on privately held companies, he has been featured in numerous media venues, including CNBC, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, and he is a featured speaker at engagements around the world.

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I want to thank my daughter, Michele Fishman, for the many hours she spent asking me questions and shaping my responsesbringing life to so many of the stories in this book. Michele has been involved in a number of our family businesses, and she is currently the executive vice president of one of them, Direct Communications Services, Inc. Because she has been exposed to family business discussions since she was a child, her insights came naturally and are an invaluable part of this book. It is fitting that my daughter was involved with me in writing this book on family business. I so enjoyed being able to work on this book with her.

Thanks to Lyn Adler for assisting me with the editing. Heartfelt gratitude also goes to Dana Besbris for handling the administrative challenges of putting this book together, as well as coordinating the resources we have used, taking dictation, and keeping me on track.

After I identified the easy-to-use Nine Elements formula for those who want family business success along with enjoyable family dynamics, I wrote out my techniques and stories for addressing the challenges. I then sent chapters to Larry Amon, Kevin Armstrong, Barry Arnold, Sharon Bolton, Carol Crawford, David Cunningham, Steve Davies, John Dini, Jan E. Drzewiecki, Bruce Gernaey, Jackie Gernaey, Bruce Healy, John Keener, Blair Koch, John Lybarger, Harlan Oelklaus, Don Schlueter, Cheryl Swanson, Ben Sweeney, Oswald Viva, Bill Vrettos, Stevan Wolf, Sheelah Yawitz, Joe Zente, and Jason Zickerman. These outstanding professionals were generous with sharing their powerful insights into solving the special challenges of family businesses and helping to create a book that is right on target on how to handle these needs. Without their contributions this book would be missing so much of the power it has to help family business leaders, family business employees, and non-family-member employees. Sincere thanks to these family business experts who shared their experience and advice.

In this book the actual names of business owners are used only where I have been granted permission to do so. Otherwise, in order to respect and ensure the confidentiality of the families and their businesses, I have used fictional names, companies, and business fields for the stories and examples provided in the book.

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Financial acumen

Multitasking

Goal oriented

Deadline sensitive

Extremely strong work ethic

Ability to motivate employees

Never-ending desire to succeed

No knowledge of the franchising business or of franchise law and contracts

No experience dealing with likely adversarial resentment from those who will feel I have the position because of nepotism

Lack of experience in growing a company in a COO capacity

No experience in motivating nonemployees, such as franchisees

Unfamiliar with the thinking, or mindset, of a franchisee

No connections or relationships in the franchise industry

May see things too black and white rather than seeing gray areas

If business could be successful, my life could be significantly changed financially, and I will be better able to provide for my family.

I will be able to become a more participating father and husband who is home rather than working nights and weekends.

I could make a positive difference in the lives of many people, whereas in past and current work, I was not making a difference.

I would gain personal satisfaction from seeing a business grow and ultimately become the biggest in the world at what we do.

The successes would go way beyond monetary if I am able to make TAB succeed.

I would have the opportunity to develop high-level negotiating ability and experience.

I would have the opportunity to become more business savvy from having run a large business.

Potential for major displeasure and resistance from both franchisees and current TAB employees to position appointment with their thinking that the appointment is strictly the result of nepotism without first viewing my ability to perform.

A financial summary of the status of the business and a projection of its financial future. Support for the assessment should be provided via financial statements for the current and recent years. Although it should include a cash flow chart, in the case of most small businesses, there will be no cash flow projections. The summary should include the names of the companys bankers, the lines of credit, and average balances. It should also list the names of your company insurance carriers and types of coverage.

A legal and administrative profile giving information on the structure of the business such as Family Partnership Agreements, corporate records, buy and sell agreements, and royalty agreements