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Families and businesses are complex systems made up of people who have complicated relationships with one another. However, family systems and business systems exist for different purposes and must function differently if each is to be effective. A family is an emotional entity, and its effectiveness lies in its ability to support and nurture its members. A business is an economic entity, designed to make or do something for profit. The effectiveness of a business depends on competence and efficiency.
The different purposes of families and businesses present very different criteria regarding decision-making, the roles assigned to participants, and the ways people relate to one another. When those decision criteria, or people's roles and relationships become confused, the family can lose its important elasticity, the business can develop destructive inefficiencies, and many of the participants on both sides will begin to experience stress and frustration.
Nevertheless, when families are in business together, there are often matters that touch on both family and business issues. Choices often have to be made about whether to apply the family's priorities or meet the needs of the business. Although some advocate either a business-first of a family-first approach, practical experience suggests that those choices are best made on a decision-by-decision basis. Decision makers must be able to recognize, separate, and weigh the family and business implications of the alternatives they face.
Using a process that includes both one-on-one interviews and group sessions, EPIC Wealth Advisors works with the family to understand and distinguish between family and business issues and to articulate their shared goals for each of those entities. EPIC Wealth Advisors also works with the family and its individual members to create forums and structures (such as annual family meetings and family councils) that will allow all family members to participate in the cultivation of those shared goals by identifying and discussing family issues and participating knowledgeably in preserving an effective balance between those issues and business concerns.
Contact us for more information.
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