In this Consulting Conversations episode, Hank Harris answers:

What has worked for clients & the next generation of family-leaders?

I think that a couple of things I've seen work well in leadership development in a family business: is I think that if you're bringing family into the business, it is much healthier if those family members work somewhere else and are required to jump through some hoops before they just come into the family business.

The key idea would be to make sure that you're screening the family members out and not letting them just default to being in the family business because they can't figure out what else to do with themselves. That usually sets up some trouble for the future generation of the business, so that's a big thing.

And I think most companies, if they are careful, can do some good things to make sure that family members come into the business reasonably. There are some great programs out there in terms of pure leadership development that actually help people understand themselves and how they come across as leaders and managers to their people. Self-awareness is a big part of being a successful leader, and those programs can be very, very helpful to family members.

We'd love to hear from any private business hunt owner in North Carolina that thinks we could be of some help to them in understanding how their business gets better or where it might go in the future.