Book provides a psychological perspective as INSEAD experts prepare to run an Executive Education Programme for Family Businesses in the Middle East
The most fascinating corporate dramas involve family businesses. In a new book, ‘Family Business on the Couch: A psychological perspective,’ INSEAD professors, Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries and Randel Carlock and researcher, Elizabeth Florent-Treacy, write that emotional issues which compound organisational problems are the most difficult challenges faced by family businesses.
Kets de Vries, Carlock and Florent-Treacy are widely recognised as the leading authorities on family business, having worked extensively with family business owners in Europe, the US and Asia.
‘We offer two complementary frameworks to help make sense of family-run organisations,’ they write. As the title ‘Family Business on the Couch’ implies, the authors believe that the challenge is to apply psychodynamic and family systematic perspectives to the very human problems families face in business.
Randel Carlock comments, ‘Family businesses operating in the region also possess similar dynamics to those owned and run in other parts of the world. Running a family business can often be far more complex and problematic than running a public company and there are global learnings that can address the very human problems families face in business across the world, including the Middle East.’
The genius of this book, now available in English and Arabic, is that it is both a vivid must-read for anyone in business and an extremely practical guide for families in business and those who work with family enterprises. The authors deftly take their insightful analysis, drawn from decades of experience with families, and weave it into real-world case studies of family businesses that have succeeded and failed.
Across the world, 60 to 95 percent of businesses are owned or controlled by families, yet only three in ten survive into a second generation and only one in ten is handed down to a third generation. The authors demonstrate a strong understanding of the dynamics and the broad implications of this on the families and the businesses.
These business issues cannot be ignored, they argue: ‘Government policy makers, economists and academics now recognise that entrepreneurial and family enterprises – the oldest form of commercial organisations – are a prime source of wealth creation and employment in both developed and emerging economies.’
Coming from three of the most respected and widely published experts in the field, this book goes beyond the usual clichés to examine the root causes of common problems and to offer sound advice. ‘Family Business on the Couch’ will help families ‘avoid the pitfalls that endanger both family and company.’ write the INSEAD trio.
‘The challenge for business families and their stakeholders is to recognise the issues that family businesses face, understand how to develop strategies to address them and more importantly, to create narratives, or family stories, that explain the emotional dimension of the issues to the family.’
Led by co-author and INSEAD Professor Randel Carlock, the Family Enterprise Challenge (FAME) programme will take place in the Middle East next April at the INSEAD Centre for Executive Education and Research in Abu Dhabi. It is designed to help regional family-owned business teams gain a greater understanding of the challenges and dynamics of family businesses and to improve personal communication skills and enhance dialogue within family teams.
For more information on INSEAD’s Family Enterprise Challenge programme, please visit: /executive-education/entrepreneurship-family-business/family-enterprise-challenge
Dr. Randel Carlock is the first Berghmans Lhoist Chaired Professor in Entrepreneurial Leadership, founding Director of the Wendel International Centre for Family Enterprises and the Family Enterprise Challenge Executive Program (France and Singapore). Carlock is author of several articles, books and case studies.
He is also co-author with John L. Ward of another book on family business ‘Strategic Planning for the Family Business’, which is available from Macmillan in Arabic, English, Spanish and Chinese.
