Myths and Mortals: Family Business Leadership and Succession Planning

Establish credibility as the new family business leader

Myths & Mortals, Family Business Leadership and Succession Planning provides insights and strategies for successors of family businesses. Successors often find themselves in the shadow of their parents making it difficult to establish credibility in the family business and tap into their own strengths. The stress of emulating a parent begins to clash with who they are and who they want to be as a leader.

Written by internationally known business strategist and succession planning expert Andrew Keyt, this guide shows you how to establish credibility, take your place at the head of the table, and run your business your way. In groundbreaking research, Keyt interviewed more than 25 successors of family business legends including Massimo Ferragamo, Bill Wrigley Jr., Christie Hefner, and John Tyson to find out how they overcame the challenges successors commonly face.The analysis from that study formed the basis for the strategies presented here--to help you win the loyalty of those stuck in the old way of doing business, and still focused on their former leader's vision. You'll learn how to take charge without sacrificing your own leadership style, and how to get everyone on board with your vision for the business.

Growing up in the shadow of legendary family business leaders creates a unique challenge for successors to the leadership position. You cannot remove the emotional power of family dynamics from the business, but you can change how you choose to react to it. To be successful, you need to create a sense of identity and credibility, and step out of the shadows of your forbears. This guide provides strategies for doing just that, so you can take the reins and be the effective leader your business needs.

• Overcome the obstacles successors commonly face
• Win over those still loyal to their former leader
• Build your own credibility, separate from your parents

• Develop your own leadership style and do business your way

Credibility is elemental to business leadership, but establishing that credibility is the successor's biggest challenge. Myths & Mortals, Family Business Leadership and Succession Planning helps you plan around the obstacles and avoid common missteps so you can lead more effectively right out of the gate.

ANDREW KEYT is the Executive Director of the Family Business Center at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business, one of the world’s leading educational organizations for family businesses. He is also the Founder and President of Keyt Consulting, a firm that assists family enterprises with succession, strategy, and next generation development. He also serves as the CEO and President of Family Business Network-North America (FBN-NA)--the world’s leading private network of family business owners.