The Pillars Of Long-Term Success In Family Firms Report Published

New report asks the world’s family business advisers one question: what single trait helps a family business last for generations?

Communication and the ability to have difficult conversations named as the most important trait by advisers in 35 countries.

Family Business United (FBU), the UK’s independent media, membership and advocacy platform for the family business community, today launches The Pillars of Long-Term Sustainability in Family Firms, a report built on the views of 137 family business advisers, academics and practitioners across 35 countries.

Each contributor was asked the same question: if you had to name just one trait or characteristic a family business must have to succeed for generations, what would it be, and why? Their answers fall into 21 distinct themes.

Communication, and in particular the ability to have difficult conversations, was named more often than any other trait. Contributors in different countries, working independently, described the same pattern.

The families that last are not the ones that avoid conflict, but the ones that have it earlier, on purpose and in the right room, rather than letting it surface at the worst possible moment.

Four further traits make up the report’s key traits:

• Adaptability with a preserved core

• Shared values, purpose and vision

• Stewardship and custodianship

• Governance

  
  

The report also examines thirteen further traits, including trust, alignment, intentionality and preparing the next generation. Every trait includes direct quotes from contributors, a “Why This Matters” section, and conversation starters designed to be used around a family’s own table.

Paul Andrews, Founder and CEO of Family Business United, said: “We expected a wide range of answers, and we got one."

"What surprised us was how often advisers on opposite sides of the world arrived at the same place."

"Again and again, they told us that it is not the business plan or the balance sheet that decides whether a family business lasts, but whether the family can talk honestly to each other when the subject is hard.”

“No single trait works on its own. A family that talks well but has no sense of stewardship will drift, and a family that guards its legacy fiercely but cannot have a difficult conversation will eventually break under its own silence."

" Longevity is built where these traits meet. I hope this report gives families a practical place to start, and I am enormously grateful to every adviser who gave their time to contribute.”

The report is intended as a practical resource for business owning families, next generation members, and the advisers who support them.

The report is available to order here