Keep the Family Baggage out of the Family Business: Avoiding the Seven Deadly Sins That Destroy Family Businesses »

Quentin J. Fleming is a management consultant with more than a decade of consulting experience. He has worked with a wide variety of clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small entrepreneurial firms. He lives in Los Angeles, California, and can be contacted at www.familybaggage.com.

Family businesses epitomize the best of the American Dream: you work hard, you're your own boss, you leave a lasting legacy to your children -- or do you? Statistics show that only 30% of family businesses survive to the second generation, and a paltry 10% survive to the third generation. Family businesses are in trouble, and their survival is crucial to us all. Their success ensures our country's success -- and their failure can drastically affect our economic health.

In Keep the Family Baggage Out of the Family Business, family business expert Quentin Fleming has identified the Seven Deadly Sins that are invariably responsible for a family business's demise. Keep the Family Baggage Out of the Family Business presents practical and accessible advice geared toward the average family business owner or employee and is an invaluable tool for helping family businesses not only survive but thrive.

Contents

Part I

What's Causing This Mess?: The Family System, the Business System, and the Accompanying Baggage

1. Why You Need to Read This Book

2. Systems and Baggage

3. When Worlds Collide: The Family System Meets the Business System

Part II

We Have Seen the Enemy, and He Is Us: The Seven Deadly Sins That Destroy Family Businesses

4. "It's the Same Old Song"

5. "We're One Big, Happy Family"

6. "They May Have Become Adults, but They'll Always Be My Children"

7. "You're Not Loyal to This Family If You Insist on Being Selfish"

8. Father Knows Best?

9. "Maybe It Will Go Away If We Ignore It"

10. "Tell Me About Your Childhood"

Part III

Succession: A Battleground unto Itself

11. Certain Problems Are Inherent to Succession

12. The Baggage Returns in Time for Succession

13. Evolutionary Versus Revolutionary Succession

14. Successful Succession

Part IV

It Comes with the Territory: Other Problems Inherent in Family Businesses

15. They've Stayed Too Long at the Fair: Long-Tenured Managers and Employees

16. Interlopers, Consorts, and Other Undesirable Meddlers

17. Baggage du Jour

18. The American Dream Versus the Family Nightmare

Part V

All Is Not Lost: Recommendations and Solutions

19. Create a Council of Advisors20. Create a Strong Team to Run the Company

21. Develop a Strong Team

22. The Right Consultant Is Critical to Your Success

23. Additional Sources of Expertise

24. Put It in Writing

25. Final Thoughts