Welcome to The Pulse of Family Business! Family Business Magazine and Brightstar Capital Partners have developed “The Pulse of Family Business”, a series of four surveys that provide brand new findings and dig deeply into the challenges and opportunities facing family businesses.
For more than 15 years, Family Business Magazine has asked the members of multi-generational family-owned businesses what key family and business issues they face, and in the several thousand responses we have received, these “Big Three” issues emerged most often:
- The need to improve family and NextGen engagement
- Succession challenges and planning
- Developing or strengthening family and business governance
How can we best engage family members in the business and protecting its legacy? How can we attract our NextGens to join the business, or at least value and include the business in their thinking as they plan for their futures? How do we plan for succession, and how do we deal with the challenges that succession planning can create? And how do we create business and family governance that helps us communicate with one another and reach critical decisions that affect the family and the business?
While there are other issues that family members face, these three recur the most, in many variations. And they each ultimately raise questions around what it means to be a good owner.
Are there tools that members of a multi-generational family business can use to put a “finger on the scale” to improve the odds of success?
Survey 3, November 2025: Family Governance and Communication
The third report in our series examines governance structures and communication practices. It highlights the extent to which families use councils, meetings, policies, and communication tools to foster alignment and cohesion. Results show that while many families have shareholder and family meetings in place, formal councils, structured policies, and conflict-resolution processes are less consistent. There are clear opportunities for families to strengthen governance by formalizing structures, resourcing councils, and broadening policy frameworks.
KEY FINDINGS INCLUDE:
• Shareholders’ and family meetings are the most common governance structures; family councils are present in less than half of families.
• Where family councils exist, they focus on planning, communication, and NextGen education, but often lack budgets and compensation.
• Representation across branches and generations is uneven; in-laws are included in governance by a majority but not universally.
• Family meetings are widespread and inclusive, often funded by the company, and generally viewed as positive for cohesion.
• Policy frameworks remain uneven, with gaps in conflict-of-interest and social-media policies.
• Three-quarters of families report no formal dispute-resolution process, raising risks as ownership spreads.