Harry Kras from Family Business Resource Centre on drawing out and dealing with the unique issues in family owned businesses

@HarryKras from the @fbrc is an expert in #familybusiness. He's a self-described ordinary guy who has a passion for working with families in business together and has done now for well over 30 years.

He started his professional life as an #accountant but now considers himself a #forwardlooking #reformedaccountant and #facilitator. He's been a long-term user of the @Mindshop (an International Consulting Group) #platform and #methodology.

A routine #estateplanning exercise brought him to working exclusively with #familybusinesses, after a realisation that great #technicaladvice wasn't enough because there was so much going on below the surface in most #familybusinesses.  In our discussion we cover;

• what defines a family business 
• his definition - more than two or three family members working together in a business
• while no business is simple, combining business with family and family #values makes for a very complex situation
• #decisionmaking in commercial business, with no family interests, vs family businesses i.e. employing the best possible person for the job or finding something for a son or my daughter to give them a head start
• how each family is unique and each family has its own way of doing things
• how family businesses evolve from wanting to create a livelihood to educating and providing opportunities to increase family wealth, and then kind of slowly dragging family members in 
• family members - giving an opportunity to learn or cheap employees? Getting the kids in to do the odd jobs owner's don't want to do
• the numbers - 70% of businesses in Australia are family-owned 
• family business as an enormous employer and creator of jobs wealth within the country (common with most western economies, in India and  lots of #asiancountries)
• #trust #familyties #familyrelationships and how these can change when a business reaches certain points 
• the need to #professionalise and bring in other outside skills
• the #metaphor with cooking the roast - every family has their own way of doing it
• the reality that while each family is unique the #issues are fairly common
• access to #capital and the three F's #families #friends #fools 
• the perils of the #kitchentable or #familybarbecue - there's no break from it
• #siblingrivalries
• the issues with #succession - animosity with #sons and #daughters over
• the reluctance to airing dirty linen in public or making others aware that there's a situation or an issue going on
• @familybusinessaustralia
• discussing the #undiscussables.
• creating a safe environment where they can raise issues and avoiding #ww3

@kerrcapital.com.au 

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Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.

michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.au

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