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Dueling Perspectives

Published August 29, 2017 | Departments

By Barbara Spector

Flip through any tourist guide to Chicago and you'll find Iwan Ries & Co...

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Effective facilitation can improve family council meeting productivity

Published August 25, 2017 Jeff Strese | Advisers

Successful family council meetings are often elusive. Picture a family council meeting where the CEO and patriarch sit frustrated, waiting for several members to show. Some members are distracted. ...

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Why are family businesses better at weathering economic downturns?

Published August 25, 2017 Carrie Hall | Advisers

When it comes to family businesses, evidence suggests that which does not kill them makes them stronger—stronger than other enterprises. Family businesses tend to enter challenging economic times...

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Successful family business boards include several common elements

Published August 25, 2017 Brad Bulkley | Advisers

Corporate governance. Yawn.

The words are long and drawn out—just like board meetings. You don't have time to sit in a boardroom. You've got production and sales to worry about, an...

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Extraordinary families take measures to create good governance structures

Published August 25, 2017 Kristen Armstrong | Advisers

It's a topic that tends to generate strong, often surprisingly emotional reactions: how to manage the governance concerns of a family enterprise. If nothing else, those in the room typically snap t...

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Hard work pays off on the family farm

Published August 25, 2017 April Hall | Departments

Kolt Kyler is a 9-year-old farm-working, grandmother-helping, pig-raising honor roll student. He's also a baseball player—and a Chicago Cubs fan. That's how he got his 15 minutes of fame.

[...

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The entitlement impediment

Published August 25, 2017 Brian Russell | Departments

Many of my colleagues express frustration that their clients are resisting or delaying implementation of expertly (and expensively!) crafted strategies. Our best-laid plans are only as good as our ...

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Celebration Corner: Carolina Beverage Corporation's 100th anniversary

Published August 25, 2017 April Hall | Departments

By April Hall

The Business: L.D. Peeler was a franchise bottler for Mint Cola in Salisbury, N.C., but wanted to create a be...

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At the Helm: Paul Darley

Published August 25, 2017 | Departments

By Patricia Olsen

Generation of family ownership: Thir...

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Ask the experts

Published August 25, 2017 | Departments

My question concerns a family-owned real estate development company with extensive commercial and residential holdings. It's been in business for three generations....

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Publisher's Note: Swimming with the sharks

Published August 25, 2017 | Departments

By Caro U. Rock

Like 6 million other loyal viewers who watch the television show Shark Tank, I am addicted. Shark Tank features budding entrepreneurs who ...

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Editor's Note: Facing forward

Published August 25, 2017 | Departments

By Barbara Spector

In October 2015, Jeff Westphal, the second-generation CEO of Vertex Inc., announced he would leave that position at the King of Prussia, Pa., company, which provid...

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Planning a smooth ride for future generations

Published August 25, 2017 Hedda T. Schupak |

Without trucks, America stops.

Virtually anything Americans touch likely rode on a truck at some point, notes Terri Hermann. And in the Northeast or parts of the Southwest, there's a good cha...

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How to achieve EXTRA EXTRA family unity

Published August 25, 2017 | Feature Article

By Barbara Spector

No matter how well your relatives bond at family meetings, these gatherings have limitations. If your family is large and dispersed, it's impractical to meet more ...

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The Duchossois Group focuses on developing leadership for the future

Published August 25, 2017 | Feature Article

By Margaret Steen

The Duchossois Group Inc. has come a long way since its founding in 1916 by A.J. Thrall and his brother-in-law as Thrall Car Manufacturing Company, a small freight ...

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Dueling Perspectives: Keeping your business going for 100 years

Published July 12, 2017 April Hall | Departments

There are a lot of Is to dot and Ts to cross if you're transporting goods across the border between the U.S. and Canada. Willson International has helped importers and exporters f...

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Assessing a failed family enterprise: Organizational structure is essential

Published July 11, 2017 Gerald Sherman | Advisers

In late 2015, I sat in a conference room with my relatively new clients, the second- and third-generation executives of a 61-year-old manufacturing company, when they decided to sell. Fortunately, ...

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Who will inherit the family business? A strategy for succession planning

Published July 11, 2017 Meg Muldoon | Advisers

A poorly planned succession has the potential to derail a closely held family business. The lack of a well-drafted plan can cause financial hardship on both the business and the family. Letting the...

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Ga. ice cream shop guards its recipe

Published July 11, 2017 April Hall | Departments

Right after Stratton and Mary Leopold got married in 1995, they flew to Savannah, Ga., and headed to the Citizens & Southern National Bank.

There, Stratton unlocked a safe deposit box and...

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Celebration Corner: Hepler's Hardware -- 75th anniversary

Published July 11, 2017 | Departments

By Barbara Spector

The Business: Founder Albert K. Hep...

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