Skip to main content

Family Business Readings

Suggested Readings for Family Business:

Family Business:

  • Bathory-Kitsz, Dennis. (2006). Country Stores of Vermont. The History Press.
  • Demott, Miles. (2010). Family Meeting: A Novel. World Truck Books.
  • Friedman, Scott E.(2013). Family Business and Positive Psychology. ABA Publishing.
  • Marcolin, Luca. (2022). Family & Business: Ottenere Armonia e Risultati Nelle Imprese di Famiglia. Ayros.

Family Business Essentials:

  • Blanchard, Ken. (2010). Leading at a Higher Level: Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performing Organizations. Pearson Education.
  • Collins, Jim. (2001). Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t. HarperCollins.
  • Covey, Stephan R. (2004). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. The Free Press.
  • Danco, Leon A. (1975). Beyond Survival: A Business Owner’s Guide for Success. The University Press.
  • Jaffe, Dennis T. (2020). Borrowed from Your Grandchildren: The Evolution of 100-Year Family Enterprises. John Wiley & Sons.
  • Peters, T. & Waterman Jr., R. (1982). In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies. Warner Books.
  • Porter, Michael E. (1980). Teaching for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. The Free Press.

Family Office:

  • Harms, Travis W. (2018). The 12 Questions that Keep Family Business Directors Awake at Night. Mercer Capital.
  • McCann, G. & Barber, J. (2023). Reshaping Reality: Unlocking the Potential of the Single Family Office. Generation 6.

Entrepreneurship:

  • Baassiri, Ramez A. (2018). Interrupted Entrepreneurship” Embracing Change in the Family Business. ForbesBooks.
  • Esposito, Patrick. (2023). The Structure of Success: A Framework to Help Build Your Business Better. An Inc.
  • Goldhill, Jonathan. (2020). Disruptive Successor: A Guide for Driving Growth in Your Family Business. Houndstooth Press.
  • Robinson, A. & Schroeder, D. (2014). The Idea-Driven Organization: Unlocking the Power in Bottom-Up Ideas. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Conflict:

  • Baumoel, D. & Tripp, B. (2016). Deconstructing Conflict: Understanding Family Business: Shared Wealth and Power. Continuity Media.
  • Hutchenson, Henry L. (2014). Dirty Little Secrets of Family Business: How to Successfully Navigate Family Business Conflict and Transition. CreateSpace Independent Publishing.
  • Klein, Michael A. (2012). Trapped in the Family Business: A Practical Guide to Uncovering and Managing This Hidden Dilemma. MK Insights, LLC.
  • Gordon, G. & Nicholson, N. (2008). Family Wars: Stories and Insights from Famous Family Business Feuds. Kogan Page Publishers.
  • Lafair, Sylvia. (2009). Don’t Bring it to Work: Break the Family Patterns that Limit Success. Jossey-Bass.
  • Reina, D. & Reina, M. (2006).  Trust and Betrayal in the Workplace: Building Effective Relationships in Your Organization. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
  • Reina, D. & Reina, M. (2010).  Rebuilding Trust in the Workplace: Seven Steps to Renew Confidence, Commitment, and Energy.. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Wealth:

  • Beyer, Charlotte B. (2014). Wealth Management Unwrapped: Unwrap What You Need to Know and Enjoy the Present. RosettaBooks.
  • Clark, Harry. (2016). Mistakes Millionaires Make: Lessons from 30 Successful Entrepreneurs. Greenleaf Book Group Press.
  • Gurbman, J., Jaffe, D. & Keffeler, K. (2023). Wealth 3.0: The Future of Family Wealth Advising. Family Wealth Consulting.
  • Kiyosaki, Robert T. & Lechter, Sharon L. (1997). Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids about Money – That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!. Time Warner Book Group.
  • McCullough, T. & Whitaker, K. (2019). Wealth of Wisdom: The Top 50 Questions Wealthy Families Ask. John Wiley & Sons.
  • Risher, Jennifer. (2020). We Need to Talk: A Memoir About Wealth. Xeno Books.
  • Spooner, John D. (2015). No One Ever Told Us That: Money and Life Lessons for Young Adults. John Wiley & Sons.
  • Stanley, T. & Danko, W. (1996). The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy.  Longstreet Press.
  • Weil, Philippe J. (2017). Woes of the Rich: Seeing Beyond the Money. 

Memoirs:

  • Beach, J. & Steele, D. (2014). Undefeated. The True Sory of How the Family-Owned Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry Service Survived and Advanced through Three Generations. AuthorHouse.
  • Box, Douglas D. (2014). Cutter Frisco: Growing Up on the Original Southfork Ranch.
  • Box, Douglas D.(2016). Texas Patriarch: A Legacy Lost. Greenleaf Book Group Press.
  • Federman, Mark Russ. (2013). Russ & Daughters: Reflections and Recipes from the House that Herring Built. RandomHouse.
  • Goldman, S. & Nalebuff, B. (2013). Mission in a Bottle: The Honest Guide to Doing Business Differently–and Succeeding. Crown Business.
  • Gupta, Anil Rai. (2016). Havells: The Untold Story of Qimat Rai Gupta.  Penguin Group.
  • Lauder, Leonard. (2020). The Company I Keep: My Life in Beauty. HarperCollins.
  • Lubetzky, Daniel. (2015). Do the KIND Thing. Ballantine Books.
  • Park Jr., Roy H. (2012). Sons in the Shadow: Surviving the Family Business as an SOB. Elderberry Press.

Succession & Exit Planning:

  • Blanchard, K. & Shaevitz, M. (2015). Refire! Don’t Retire: Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
  • Cloud, Henry. (2010). Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships that All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward. HarperCollins.
  • Cunningham, Lawrence A. (2014). Berkshire Beyond Buffett: The Enduring Value of Values Columbia University Press.
  • Keyt, Andrew. (2015). Myths & Mortals: Family Business Leadership and Succession Planning John Wiley & Sons.
  • Logan, Dennis. (2019). The Seller’s Journey. Chase What Matters Publishing.
  • Rickertsen, R. & Gunther, R. (2006). Sell Your Business Your War: Get Out, Getting Rich & Getting on with Your LIfe. AMACOM.
  • Wong, J. & Kruger, S. (2011). The Transition Experience: What Every Canadian Family Business Owner Should Know Beyond Succession Planning. Bank of Montreal.

Guidebooks:

  • Barkman, Laurie R. (2023). The Business Transition Handbook: How to Avoid Succession Pitfalls and Create Valuable Exit Options. JWC Publishing.
  • Bork, David. (2008). The Little Red Book of Family Business. Sampson Press.
  • Cohen, A. & Sharma, P. (2016). Entrepreneurs in Every Generation: How Successful Family Businesses Develop Their Next Leaders.  Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
  • Hoy, F. & Sharma, P. (2010). Entrepreneurial Family Firms Pearson Education.
  • Illy, Riccardo. (2022).  The Art of Excellent Products: Enchanting Customers with Premium Brand Experiences. HarperCollins.
  • McCann, Greg. (2007). When Your Parents Sign the Paychecks: Finding Career Success Inside or Outside the Family Business.  JIST Works.
  • Poza, E. & Daugherty, M. (2014). Family Business, 4th ed.  South-Western.
  • Raphael, N. & Rayne. J. (2009). The Complete Idiot’s Guide to a Successful Family Business. Penguin Group.
  • Specht, D. & Specht, T. (2016). The Family Business Whisperer.

Leadership:

  • Buckingham, M. & Clifton, D. (2001). Now, Discover Your Strengths. The Free Press.
  • Burlingham, Bo. (2005). Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big. Penguin Group.
  • Casullo, David (2012). Leading the High-Energy Culture: What the Best CEOs Do to Create an Atmosphere Where EMployees Flourish. McGraw-Hill Books.
  • Charlestein, Julie. (2023). How to Lead Your Family Business: Excelling Through Unexpected Crises, Choices, and Challenges. BenBella Books, Inc.
  • Collis, Jim. (2005). Good to Great and the Social Sectors: Why Business Thinking is Not the Answer.
  • Collins, Jim. (2019). Turning the Flywheel: Why Some Companies Build Momentum and Others Don’t.  HarperCollins.
  • Glickman, Jodi. (2011). Great on the Job.  St. Martin’s Press.
  • Gordon, Job. (2023). The One Truth. John Wiley & Sons.
  • Joiner, B. & Josephs, S. (2007). Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change. Jossey-Bass.
  • Joly, Hubert. (2021). The Heart of Business: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism. Harvard Business Review.
  • Peters, Tom. (2018). The Excellence Dividend: Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last. Vintage Books.
  • Pink, Daniel H. (2012). To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others. Penguin Group.
  • Lencioni, Patrick. (2011). The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business. John Wiley & Sons.
  • Mitchell, Jack. (2015). Hug Your Customers.  Hatchett Books
  • On Emotional Intelligence. (2015). Harvard Business Review.
  • Spitulnik, David. (2018). Becoming an Insightful Leader: Charting Your Course to Purposeful Success. First Edition Design Publishing.