Family Firm Institute Podcast

Maria Sinanis, a family enterprise consultant and researcher on longevity and multigenerational dynamics, explores how longer lifespans reshape family businesses. She covers why longevity matters for planning, the advisor role in convening intergenerational conversations, global aging trends and health inequities, retirement as evolution, later-life roles like mentorship, and creating a family culture around aging.

For this week’s edition, FFI Practitioner is pleased to feature Andrew Gersick, a Visiting Researcher and Lecturer in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University and a Researcher in Computer Science at San Diego State University. At the 2022 FFI Global Conference, he and his father, Kelin Gersick of Lansberg Gersick Advisors, co-presented the session “The Demographics of Evolutionary Behavior: Exploring the essential ‘humanness’ of family enterprise leadership and continuity.”

FFI Practitioner is pleased to invite Jon Quinn, Deputy Director at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, to discuss the factors contributing to the rising generation’s philanthropic goals and decisions. In recent years, the Covid-19 pandemic, a worldwide reckoning with racial injustice, and increased political polarization have transformed the dynamics of “next-generation philanthropy.”

FFI Practitioner is pleased to host Jason Jay, Senior Lecturer and Director of the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative. Dr. Jay is presenting a keynote at the FFI Global Conference, entitled “Creating Climate Futures: Business in a changing world.”

FFI Practitioner is pleased to invite Robert Randolph to discuss his upcoming Family Business Review article, “When Family Business Meets Social Enterprise: An Integrative Review and Future Research Agenda,” cowritten with Benjamin Alexander, Kristen Madison, and Francesco Barbera. Dr. Randolph, assistant professor of family business management at Kennesaw State University, discusses the connections and the research gaps that emerge when social enterprise research and family business research are reviewed together. Topics include • the different strategies that family enterprises employ to address social goals • how advisors and families can interpret social goals as being goals of economic resilience and renewal, rather than non-economic goals • considering the significance of the family/community relationship • the role of practitioners in considering where family-centered and community-centered value is being created in the enterprise

FFI Practitioner is pleased to host a conversation with family enterprise advisors Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer, both from BanyanGlobal Family Business Advisors and co-authors of the article “Do Most Family Businesses Really Fail by the Third Generation?” published in Harvard Business Review last year.

FFI Practitioner is pleased to host a discussion with Anneleen Michiels, Isabel Botero, and Roland Kidwell, discussing their article, “Toward a Family Science Perspective on Executive Compensation in Family Firms: A Review and Research Agenda,” published in the March 2022 issue of Family Business Review.

FFI Practitioner is pleased to present an interview with Mark Stevenson and FFI Board chair Debbie Bing. Mark Stevenson is the 2021 recipient of the 2086 Society Applied Research grant as the 2022 FFI Futurenaut-in-Residence. In this week’s podcast, Mark and Debbie discuss Mark’s role as Futurenaut-in-Residence, the important roles in environmental sustainability that are available to family enterprises and practitioners, and how to truly change minds. To learn more about the Family Firm Institute go to www.ffi.org.

FFI Practitioner is pleased to introduce Christian Stewart, founder of Family Legacy Asia and the 2021 recipient of the Interdisciplinary Award. In this week’s podcast, Mr. Stewart, in conversation with Jordan Rich, discusses family governance, family learning and development, and the emerging role of a “Chief Learning Officer” in the family office field, among other topics. To learn more about the Family Firm Institute go to www.ffi.org.

In this week’s podcast, FFI Practitioner is pleased to introduce Kathy Wiseman, the 2021 recipient of the Richard Beckhard Practice Award. Ms. Wiseman, in conversation with Jordan Rich, reflects on her memories of Richard Beckhard, the founding years of FFI, and her evolving practice as an observer of dynamic systems. To learn more about the Family Firm Institute go to www.ffi.org.