Abstract
Challenges related to any dimension of family will affect personal continuity for retiring family business leaders. This is especially true for marriage/life partner situations, which affect and are affected significantly by the transition, due to potentially conflicting interests and the (potential) shift to spending more time together post-retirement. Challenges may also arise over how much time to spend with children/grandchildren and loss of connection to the business and family employees. In all cases, open communication can help those in the system acknowledge history, navigate boundaries, address divergent needs, and find common ground. A good governance system also helps to promote communication and the right solutions to handle transition as related to the family system.
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Notes
- 1.
See, for example, Jens Manuel Krogstad, “5 Facts About the Modern American Family,” Pew Research Center Fact Tank, April 30, 2014, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/04/30/5-facts-about-the-modern-american-family/ (accessed January 31, 2017).
- 2.
As cited in George Vaillant, Aging Well, Little, Brown and Co., Boston, 2002, p. 13.
- 3.
Questions from Barton Goldsmith, “7 Questions That Can Strengthen Your Relationship,” Psychology Today, August 6, 2014, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/emotional-fitness/201408/7-questions-can-strengthen-your-relationship (accessed April 25, 2017).
- 4.
“Enmeshment” has often been used to describe family systems marked by excessively close relationships and dependence among members, reflecting a sort of systemic pathology. Here, I’m using the term more generally to denote families that prioritize togetherness, sometimes at the expense of other important individual or collective pursuits.
- 5.
See, for example, the very useful book by Chris Eckrich and Steve McClure , The Family Council Handbook, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2012.
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de Pontet, S.B. (2018). Is Your Family Ready for Your Transition?. In: Transitioning from the Top. A Family Business Publication. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57804-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57804-4_5
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