The Survival Guide for Business Families [Hardcover]

Gerald Le Van (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 1998

What makes some family-operated businesses succeed while others fail? This book presents 39 cases which might help any business family. The author guides the reader through the process of assessing the organizational dynamics of their firm, using as an example the JacMar family, a hypothetical company representative of a family business.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Analyzes the dynamics of family and business in a way that is easy to comprehend, allowing readers to apply sound management principles to their work. -- American Nurseryman 15 May 2002
One of the genuinely interdisciplinary leaders of our field LeVan has patiently allowed his magnum opus to develop through a couple of generations, and like the best kind of entrepreneur, he has the courage, generosity, and wisdom to pass along that intellectual capital to the rest of us. -- Kenneth Kaye, Ph.D. author of Workplace Wars and How to End Them: Turning Personal Conflict into Productive Teamwork
LeVan has made many of the complexities of family dynamics in a family business easier for insiders and outsiders to comprehend. His insights have been useful with each of the family businesses in which Sentinel has been involved. This book should be required reading for anyone who is part of a family business whether they are an owner, and employee (family member, or non-family member), advisor, or heir. -- Fort Flowers, President Sentinel Trust Company, Houston, Texas
The Survival Guide for Business Families is yet another highly valuable contribution to the family business field. It is precise and pithy, and reflects a wealth of experience in interdisciplinary consulting to family firms. Like his prior publications, his newest book provides significant insights both to family business members and to their advisors. -- Michael Fay, Attorney, Hale and Dorr, LLP
Le Van's approach is to tell one family's story, peeling away layers of the onion as the reader becomes more sensitive to key issues... He tells the story with compassion for all family members, as he frankly summarizes their mixed emotions... Le Van provides hope to the reader; others have traveled this road before. -- Kenneth Kaye, Family Business Review
... offers a lot of advice and skills to help family businesses avoid some common pitfalls ... Check it out. -- Small Business Opportunities

From the Publisher

The audio version of my book, "The Survival Guide for Business Families", allows me to update you on some things I've learned since the book was published and to expand beyond the original format. I'll lead you step-by-step through 39 critical questions that everyone involved with a family-operated business must address in order to plan for the future. Audio cassette verion contains 3 - 90 minutes cassettes in album and provides the "39 Critical Questions" in print. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 5 edition (October 19, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415920868
• ISBN-13: 978-0415920865
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #362,084 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you advise business families -- or own one: read this, August 9, 2000

By 

P Robert Brown (Bellevue, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Survival Guide for Business Families (Hardcover)

Business families are different. They have all the components of other families but they have a business. And that makes them different. It's because the two create some extraordinary opportunities and some powerful pressures at the same time. After the business has been built questions begin to arise: What would happen to the business if dad (or mom) suddenly died? When will dad and mom want to retire? How can they unlock the value from the business with safety? Who should run the business? If there are siblings - will they all be involved? If not, how can the family's wealth be fairly distributed? In the beginning business families typically seek advice from traditional advisors - the attorney, accountant, banker, insurance agent or broker. The problem is these professionals are trained to apply specific tools to achieve goals. Often discussions begin with wills and trusts, tax strategies, financing options or risk shifting with insurance. But after documents are prepared, something isn't "right" and they aren't implemented. The reason is the work was begun in the wrong place. And the goals the advisors were trying to achieve weren't the client's real goals.

This usually isn't for a lack of trying. The advisors thought they were working on the client's goals but they weren't. The proof is that the family frequently won't implement the wills, trusts and other tools. The family isn't sure what is "right" for them. And until they really work on it - they can't be.

Mr. LeVan's book is the product of working with family businesses. The first 29 years was in the practice of law. The next decade has been spent working as a consultant helping families discover what they want to do and then how to work together to find the best way to do it. He calls it their "family work" and his book carves a path through this area using 39 questions. He demonstrates with a series of steps and anecdotes from his experience how the family work is a process of exploration that helps them discover how best to merge a business plan with a family plan that will preserve the integrity of both.

I'm an insurance broker and family business owner. This book and its concepts have been helpful to me in working with clients - and with our own family business. If you're an advisor of family businesses or own one - this book can help.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Resource, January 12, 2010

By 

B. Millard (Kansas City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Survival Guide for Business Families (Hardcover)

I'd overlooked this resource before since it is somewhat dated. However, it is better than many more recent resources. In fact, much better.

5.0 out of 5 stars Making your family business formidable..., June 7, 2005

By 

Larry A. Hollar "Author" (La Junta, CO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Survival Guide for Business Families (Hardcover)

Partly a story about a fictional family, partly instructional, The $urvival Guide has been very useful to me as a family business member. Mr. Le Van's 39 questions are a wonderful tool for finding out where your family is, and where it should be going. There will be some work involved, but if you'd like for your business family to become healthier and more successful, this is a great book to start with.
Then there is a really fun and instructive sequel named "Families Money and Trouble" that takes the same fictional family into the next generation.