Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Seven Steps to Managing Your Time in Your Family Business

In a typical family business, the owners wear many hats. As the business grows, it gets harder and harder to juggle all the tasks and duties that the manager of the family business must accomplish in a day.

Here are 7 steps to help you manage your own time:
  1. List all tasks and rank them by their importance.
  2. Plan and estimate the time required for every task.
  3. Prepare a list of no more than 20 tasks you need to do in one day, sorted from the most important to the least.
  4. Ensure that all listed tasks are necessary. If any task is not really essential, delete it from the list.
  5. Determine whether anyone else, in your organization or outside it, can do any of listed tasks for you. Assign that task to the appropriate person.
  6. Organize your remaining tasks systematically and logically in the most efficient order, keeping in mind which tasks are the most important to complete by the end of the day.
  7. Once you start, focus on a single task and delete it from your list as soon as it is completed. Avoid switching back and forth between tasks.

If you follow these 7 simple steps, you will find that you are once again in control of your day!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Family Business Network International Summit comes to Chicago

The 21st Family Business Network International Summit will be held in Chicago on October 1-2, 2010. This year's theme is "Innovation: Keeping the Family Business Vibrant for Generations." Keynote speakers include Chris Galvin, former Chairman and CEO of Motorola; Admiral William Owens, former Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and current Chairman and CEO, AEA Holdings Asia; and John Elkann, Chairman of FIAT and EXOR (Agnelli Family).

"This year's summit investigates the role of innovation through an array of exceptional speakers who will include Moira Forbes, publisher of ForbesWoman, Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, Chairman of Champagne Taittinger, Boja Pascual Gomez-Cuetera, Grupo Leche Pascual board member and Fisk Johnson, Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson," adds Andrew Keyt, director of the American Chapter of FBN and Executive Director of the Loyola University Chicago Family Business Center.

The sponsor of the summit, The Family Business Network, is a nonprofit leading international family business organization which gathers family business owners from all over the world.
More than 500 CEOs, owners and family owners of the world's most powerful global families from 40 countries will discuss how they combine their deep-rooted traditions with a higher level of risk taking to continually innovate. Participation is limited to members of family businesses, CEOs of family owned businesses or by special invitation from FBN International or its chapters.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Escaping the Family Business

In her regular bnet.com column, Evil HR Lady (Suzanne Lucas) gives a number of tips to a woman who wants to find a gracious way to get out of her family business. The tips include: leave sooner rather than later; change careers, not just jobs; say maintaining the relationship is the most important thing; after you find a new job and leave, express regret; set clear boundaries; be unfailingly positive about your new job; and be unfailingly positive about the family business, unless it’s failing then be sympathetic.

You can read the complete article here.