Ferguson Alliance | Family Business Advisors | HQ in Houston

Early in my career, I took my first real job working for a large global conglomerate, inside a business unit that sat inside a much bigger division. I’d just left the Army, so I was used to a disciplined structure. You knew who the boss was. You knew who the boss’s boss was. And you assumed the boss’s boss had a boss too.

As long as you showed up, did your job, and wen...

8 Attributes to Look For

Every family business reaches a point where the people already around the table aren’t enough.

Family leaders trust each other. Executives know the business inside and out. But neither group is built to challenge blind spots, or bring in the outside experience the business needs for its next stage of growth.

That’s what a...

Many family business leaders assume the goal is to eliminate stress and uncertainty altogether.

Fewer surprises, fewer curveballs, more control.

In our experience, that’s the wrong target.

There’s always going to be something you can’t control: bad weather before a big event, fuel prices climbing without warning, a shift in the market nobody saw coming.

When family business owners ask me about governance, they usually assume the goal is more of it.

More structure, more oversight, more formal process.

And there’s good reason for that assumption! Most of the warnings you hear are about ...