Getting Along in Family Business: The Relationship Intelligence Handbook [Hardcover]

Edwin A. Hoover (Author), Colette Lombard Hoover (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1999 | ISBN-10: 0415921899 | ISBN-13: 978-0415921893 | Edition: 1

This is a guide for business owning families and their professional advisors. The authors argue that the single most important factor to the success of any business is relationship intelligence. The book aims to demonstrate how improved relationships translate into more effective leadership, ownership and ethics in business.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Want to make your family business a success? If so, the Hoovers, psychologists and business consultants, believe you will need a high level of "Relationship Intelligence," which they define as understanding the unique emotional dynamics impacting businesses where the owners and employees are related. It's one thing, for instance, when a boss orders a worker to complete a task. Yet this apparently uncomplicated command takes on a wealth of emotional baggage when the boss is the father and the employee is his son. After Relationship Intelligence is explained, business examples are provided of when it's present and when absent. The authors then reveal how to strengthen those all-important relationships. Also discussed are inevitable situations where individuals pull in different directions and the qualities one needs to lead a family business. Quite a timely book, as an increasing number of families are attempting this business arrangement in their quest for the American Dream. Brian McCombie

Review

Provides a practical guide for business-owning families and their professional advisers. -- Journal of Economic Literature
With their book, Getting Along in Family Business: The Relationship Intelligence Handbook, the Hoovers have provided family-run businesses a compass to navigate the challenges of these types of businesses. -- West Chicago Press
A terrific book that many family businesses have benefited from... -- Herald Press
Ed and Colette Hoover bring a nice balance of common sense, professional experience, and science to that which many think is merely intuitive or preordained by the genes. As someone who wears several hats, I can say that the Hoovers have done a masterful job of describing the uniqueness of each perspective, and provide a good framework for insiders to follow. People serious about moving their family's business and family performance to the next level will find this book invaluable. -- --David Juday, Chairman and CEO, Ideal Industries
At the heart of family business continuity is the ability of the owning family to communicate about things that matter and then plan accordingly. And if you want to promote this kind of communication you have to invest in the relationships between family members. This is a book about how to invest where it matters most for the family. Read it and act on it. -- Ernesto Poza, Professor for the Practice of Family Business and Director Family Business Programs, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University e
For those who wish to survive the maze of family business, this is more a guide to `prospering and thriving' than simply `getting along'. The unique addition of QFRs (Questions for Reflection) takes this home at a person and practical level. And with abundant models, cases, and practical exercises, it's a facilitator's handbook as well

. -- Paul Karofsky, Executive Director, Northeastern University Center for Family Business

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415921899
• ISBN-13: 978-0415921893
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #769,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Edwin A. Hoover, PhD. is a management psychologist and relationship consultant exclusively for business owning and affluent families. He is a private practice family business advisor who, for over twenty years, has combined expertise in family systems psychology and business management to assist families in navigating the "soft issues" of family business and family wealth management. Dr. Hoover writes regularly for numerous publications and is a contributing editor of Family Business Magazine. He is co-author of Getting Along In Family Business: The Relationship Intelligence Handbook, (Routledge: New York, 1999). He received his doctorate from Boston University and achieved the highest accreditation given by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy during his more than ten years as a practicing family psychologist. He has been awarded the Certificate in Family Business Advising with Fellow Status by the Family Firm Institute. He is an Adjunct Professor of Management of The American College, Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania; and a licensed psychologist.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Wish I had read this years ago., July 22, 2011

By 

Speakeasy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Getting Along in Family Business: The Relationship Intelligence Handbook (Kindle Edition)

I wish I had read this book years ago. It would have saved me and my family from endless conflicts and probably have saved our family business. Every member of a family business should read this book and put the recommendations into action.