Reviews of Keys to Family Business Success

Review of     The Keys To Family Business Success

by Leslie Dashew, Sam Lane, Joe Paul, Darrell Beck and William Roberts

Good business means delivering more than you promise—and the Aspen group has certainly done that! The Aspen Group is a highly skilled group of International Family Business advisors who offer their clients a wide range of relationship and business skills. They have collaborated for several decades, supporting each other while counseling multi -generational family businesses. They share their collective breadth and depth of knowledge and experience in their newest book The Keys To Family Business Success.

The combination of family and  business can be the best or the worst way to run your business and your family. The dynamics necessary to create a healthy, successful business are very different from the dynamics necessary to create a healthy, loving family. Exclusive focus on family can destroy a business. Exclusive focus on business can destroy the family. How does a family manage itself successfully in both venues? “The Keys” provides insightful examples of typical family business problems, and offers clear tools and processes for overcoming  these difficulties.

For those who want to avoid the common family business trap of “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations”, “The Keys” offers valuable ideas to both DIY family business members and the family business seeking outside help. It is written in non-technical language with examples illustrating many common double binds and their solutions.

Clear explanations and solid examples are supported with valuable work sheets for problem solving.  It is written in sections that allow you to read just what you need.

The authors offer a hopeful, positive message. By following the advice in “The Keys To Family Business Success” the best is available for both family and business. With this information put into action, one need not suffer for the success of the other.

As a family business consultant and family relationship coach, I heartily recommend this book for every family business. Both the very new and the seasoned family business will profit greatly by understanding this wise advice and taking action to avoid the many potentially painful pitfalls ahead. I will certainly recommend it to all of my family business clients.

Thank you Aspen Group for a job well done! You have provided a classic work whose truths are here to stay. Technology changes daily. Human nature and family systems continue to replay themselves through the ages. Your clarity and insight helps families doing business together be able to take the high road to success in all parts of their lives together.

Karen Calcagno, PCC, ORSCC

In this book, [the authors] share their expertise and experience in a way every reader can use to benefit their own families and businesses. The Aspen Business Group is uniquely positioned to be your back up team through this book.—Bruce E. Grossman, Vice Chairman, Grupo Continental, SAB, a fourth-generation Coca-Cola Bottler in Mexico. 

 Keys to Family Business Success is a compilation of best practices applied to families and family businesses in transition. This publication serves as a unique resource to families and advisors seeking to find advice in dealing with the tremendous variety of challenges family businesses face today.—Dirk Jungé, Chairman & CEO of Pitcairn and a fourth-generation family member and owner.

 “The reader will discover some gems that are worth highlighting for easy reference when times get rough. … Those preparing to move from hope to planning should consider taking the time to do the exercises suggested in the Aspen group’s book.”—Barbara Spector, Editor, Family Business magazine

 “I’ve enjoyed reading your book. The charts, tables, illustrations and general advice is great. The most comprehensive approach to this issue I’ve ever seen.”—Tracy Totten, president of family-owned Totten Tubes Inc