Fredda Herz Brown - Sustaining the Family Enterprise

Today we have a special guest, veteran family enterprise advisor Fredda Herz Brown.  I’ve been wanting to interview Fredda for a while because she is a leader in the space, and her career goes back to the roots of the current theory and practice of family wealth advising.  She talks about the evolution of family systems theory going back to Murray Bowen and Nathan Ackerman, the collaborative nature of the field’s development, the importance of self-awareness for consultants, raising children amidst wealth and avoiding entitlement, and balancing separateness and connectedness in the family.  We had a very rich conversation, and Fredda offered a great deal of wisdom on these crucial topics.

Fredda has been a pioneer and continual innovator in the family enterprise field. She co-founded Relative Solutions to address the complexities and challenges enterprise families face at the intersection of their economy and family. She is the author of several books, including Reweaving the Family Tapestry and The Essential Roadmap: Navigating Family Enterprise Sustainability in a Changing World. 

Fredda has received numerous industry awards recognizing her work. She is the recipient of awards from the Family Firm Institute (FFI), where she is a Fellow and founding board member, and the Family Office Exchange, where she was honored as a thought leader. In 2002, she received the Beckhard award, named for one of her mentors, which acknowledged her contribution to practice in the field. In 1996, she received the Hollander award for her contribution to the community of family enterprise. 

Fredda holds a PhD in Psychology, Master’s degrees in Psychology and Psychiatric Nursing, and received a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing.  

Please enjoy my conversation with Fredda Herz Brown.

WEBSITE: https://www.relative-solutions.com/bio-fredda

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Joe Reilly runs Circulus Group, and the host of the Private Capital Podcast as well as the Inheritance Podcast. 

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