Leadership Abilities Unique In Family Firms

The sustained profitability of family firms can be ascribed to various traits and next-generation leadership abilities unique to their business models, says the ‘Global Family Business Report’ from KPMG Private Enterprise and the STEP Project Global Consortium. It found numerous factors make up the formula for family business resilience and regeneration, including a strong entrepreneurial orientation; emotional attachment to their business; and ambitious next-generation leadership seeking new experiences outside the family corporation. Among the report’s key findings was that next-generation successors are pursuing alternative career paths before returning to the family business, frequently using small sums of family wealth to help them learn and take risks. Ultimately, this strategy was found to contribute to long-term outperformance among the family company cohort surveyed in the report.