Companies that are owned and run by families need to develop leadership and entrepreneurial skills just like any other company, but family firms face obstacles that "hire and fire" companies don't. Family dynamics rarely perfectly mirror the best practices in the latest Harvard Business Review.

So what factors in the family and work environments enable the creation of leaders who share the entrepreneurial fire of the founders? Do specific education, training, and experiential pathways tip the odds of entrepreneurial success across generations? How do some firms manage to bypass or work through the family conflicts, disparate visions of the future, sibling rivalries, generational struggles, or external disasters that seem to mark the demise of so many family businesses?

Allan Cohen and Pramodita Sharma, scholars with deep professional and personal roots in family businesses, draw on extensive global research to reveal the secrets of enterprising families, using examples of both firms that flourished and those that failed. They describe the practices that characterize entrepreneurial individuals, families, and organizations and offer detailed advice on how to develop and implement those practices. Each chapter ends with a worksheet that helps listeners create an action plan for building entrepreneurs in every generation.

Worldwide, most businesses are family businesses, from behemoths like Walmart to your favorite little restaurant. This book offers profoundly practical advice that will ensure they thrive into the next century.