Although many people have encountered MacLean-Fogg Co.’s products, they probably haven’t noticed them, unless they’ve looked at the hardware that sits atop telephone poles or the parts inside car exhaust systems and transmissions, such as gear blanks and wheel nuts.

On Thursday, July 19, 2018, the family leaders of Vermeer Corporation shifted gears from marking the 70th anniversary of the business to managing a crisis after a tornado struck the company’s Pella, Iowa, headquarters.

When a family experiences a liquidity event, such as the sale of the family business, they may feel as if they’re entering an uncertain phase of life.

The decline of a family business can be heartbreaking. Often the extended family loses much of its fortune and the financial security of future generations is at risk. Why does this happen, and, if you are a family member who is not running the business, how do you prevent the decline? Minority family shareholders as well as controlling owners can learn to identify early warning signs and take steps to implement solutions that will transform risk of decline into success.

As I write this, rumblings of an impending recession are getting louder. In January, Deloitte released a survey of 147 corporate chief financial officers that found 55% expected a U.S. recession by the end of 2020. The CFOs’ optimism about their own companies’ prospects dropped to the lowest level in nearly three years, according to Deloitte’s CFO Signals report. The finance chiefs predicted lower business spending and higher labor costs.