“The family business world is a very fascinating subject because different disciplines come together there,” says Lambrecht. “It is of course economics and management, but it is much more than that: there is a part of psychology in it, sociology, history … It is much more than just looking at the company, you also have the family, the individual families This makes working with her very exciting. It is also a subject that lends itself well to integrating theory and practice. This symbiosis of science, theory and practice really appeals to me. You can bring science to that target group, but you can also bring practice back into science and I find that interaction to be very beneficial.”
Your latest book, “The family business in Good days and bad. Can you tell us what the reader can expect?
Johann Lambrecht: There are four main parts to the book. In Part 1, I consider the question “What really is a family business?” And the word “real” is important. In this I explain that the family business should be viewed as an integrated system, as a whole, as a unit. It’s much more than just that company. The second part focuses on the origins of a family business. But as I write in the preface to the book: You also have to look very realistically at the family business. They certainly have strengths, but they also have weaknesses and this is the third part of the book. In Part IV, I present ten “lubricants” for the family business system to preserve those assets and reduce or—better yet—prevent those weaknesses or weaknesses.
Without going into detail and giving everything away, can you give us one of those vulnerabilities that might be most surprising to you?
– “For me, confusion of roles is the biggest weakness – the Achilles’ heel – in the family business. You have to understand this in two ways: if you look at the three formal levels of the company – and this is also the case in a family business – you have ownership or shareholding, board and operations Daily.You often see in family businesses that these roles are all mixed in. This of course also has to do with the fact that quite a few families wear different hats.They may be shareholders, they may sit on the board of directors and they may be CEO, CEO or managing director of the family business. Hence it is very important for people to know where they are in. The role they play. You must fulfill the shareholder role in the general meeting of shareholders. The director role you play at the board or advisory board level. And your role in day-to-day operation and management, you achieve that every day You often see people mix it up. I give specific examples and cases to illustrate this. Another way this role confusion manifests itself is when family and work mix. For example, it may happen that the family hierarchy extends to the company. I give In the book is an example of a discussion in a company about a commercial issue between a mother and her son. The discussion heats up and at a certain moment the mother says “Do you know who you are talking to, I am your mother”. The son replies, “Yes, but not in the company,” and he is right. By the way, the opposite also happens: the corporate hierarchy is allowed to seep into the family.
Information : family business – On Good Days and Bad, 250 pages, published by Owl Press.
