For families involved in philanthropy, governance is how they organize themselves to make decisions about their giving and demonstrate accountability to themselves and their community. While governance is too often equated with compliance and boring board meetings, it is, in fact, a dynamic and creative process at the heart of family engagement and impact.
A CEO-Chairman partnership, like any other meaningful human partnership, isn’t something that happens to you. It’s something you build, day after day, conversation after conversation, and there’s always room for improvement.
While passing the torch of the CEO seat to the next generation is often the ideal path for many family enterprises, it is not always the right answer. In fact, the most loving and responsible act a family can perform for the next generation is precisely the decision to recruit a professional CEO.
In this episode of the LGA Lighthouse podcast, host Tim Yeung kicks off a two-part conversation with family enterprise pioneers and LGA co-founders Ivan Lansberg and Kelin Gersick. They explore the practical power of conceptual models—not as academic concepts, but as essential tools for helping families make sense of the deep complexity inherent in multi-generational businesses.
In this episode of the LGA Lighthouse podcast, host Tim Yeung sits down with Bill Strandberg, Managing Partner of Strandberg, to discuss the critical nuances of executive search within family-owned businesses. Bill explores why hiring a leader in a family system is not merely a recruitment task, but a vital decision for long-term leadership continuity.
Introducing independent directors into a family enterprise is often perceived as a significant milestone in the evolution of governance. It signals openness, professionalization, and a willingness to incorporate external perspectives into decision-making.
In this episode of the LGA Lighthouse podcast, host Tim Yeung is joined by seasoned economist Dimitris Valatsas, an LGA advisor that specializes in helping family enterprises and family offices navigate complex geopolitical and macroeconomic changes.
In this episode of the LGA Lighthouse Podcast, host Tim Yeung chats with Matt Fullbrook, a corporate governance advisor and creator of Ground-up Governance. Matt challenges traditional thinking on governance, offering a fresh perspective on how organizations, especially family enterprises, can make better, more intentional decisions.
In most businesses, the Board Chair’s role is seen as relatively straightforward: to ensure the Board and its governance committees function properly. However, in family enterprises, this role is far more complex, with responsibilities that go significantly beyond these traditional expectations.
Envisioning the family enterprise as a tree allows us to better understand the practical hierarchy at play: the roots represent the foundational family dynamics, the strong trunk embodies the ownership structure, and the expansive canopy symbolizes the diverse business ventures. This visual framework brings new clarity to the dynamic interplay of roles, responsibilities, and priorities across all facets of the family’s enterprise.
