Navigating the Complexities of Family Business Dynamics

In the thirteenth episode of The Family Business Audiocast, host R. Adam Smith welcomes Professor Alfredo De Massis, one of the world's leading family business academics. De Massis shares insights from his extensive experience with entrepreneurial families across multiple countries, highlighting four key challenges facing today's family wealth office ecosystem: patrimony administration, succession planning beyond traditional roles, balancing family and society-centered goals, and leveraging tradition as a strategic resource. He explores the "family business innovation paradox" where many family enterprises possess higher ability but lower willingness to innovate, and introduces his concept of the "entrepreneurial family galaxy" where various family organizations beyond the core business contribute to sustainable legacy development.