Family Business Audiocast

In this extraordinary episode of The Family Business Audiocast, host R. Adam Smith welcomes His Imperial and Royal Highness Sandor Habsburg, descendant of Empress Maria Theresa, Catherine the Great, and Queen Victoria. Drawing from his family's nearly thousand-year legacy, Habsburg shares profound wisdom on building sustainable family enterprise systems that transcend generations. He emphasizes respect over tolerance as a guiding principle for both governance and business, and introduces his concept of "value-based consumption" as an alternative to short-term consumerism. Habsburg draws fascinating parallels between the Habsburg Empire's multinational governance model and modern family wealth office structures, highlighting how both require flexibility, cultural sensitivity, and generational thinking to create lasting impact amid changing social landscapes.

R. Adam Smith welcomes Dave Specht, Director of the Drucker School Global Family Business Institute and renowned family enterprise advisor. Drawing from his extensive experience at Wells Fargo and as author of "The Family Business Whisperer," Specht shares his expertise on succession planning through his innovative "Five C's" framework - contingency plans, cash flow planning, compensation, communication, and conflict management. The conversation explores how family financial planning must balance technical considerations with emotional intelligence, particularly when navigating business transitions. Specht highlights the importance of implementing advisory boards as stepping stones to more formal governance structures and discusses his collaboration with the James E. Hughes Foundation to redefine wealth as well-being within the family business enterprise ecosystem.

R. Adam Smith welcomes Bill Stranberg, second-generation leader and managing partner at Stranberg, a firm specializing in executive search and talent strategy for family-owned businesses. Drawing from his own experience joining his parents' firm in 2013, Stranberg shares insights on the delicate balance between honoring family legacy while pursuing evolution and growth. The conversation explores the unique family enterprise challenges in hiring external leadership, including the critical importance of alignment across family members and the difficulties in transferring power from long-tenured executives. Stranberg emphasizes that successful family financial planning requires addressing both organizational culture and family dynamics when navigating leadership transitions in increasingly complex multi-generational businesses.

Download the transcript as a PDF here!:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/nddvqisqf8t34aajkvmip/4-Post-Podcast-Ruby-Hugueny-June-2023.pdf?rlkey=7co0gxceerh6gw2jf66rvfqvm&st=5ksvoc3e&dl=0
Download the episode here!: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/1n731fvd9kxupvfqorahv/Audiocast-Ruby-Hugueny-With-Intro-Outro-2023-06-19.mp3?rlkey=87y3lui96jk4irhh0n7wnntu1&st=rqphyc9v&dl=0

In the nineteenth episode of The Family Business Audiocast, host R. Adam Smith welcomes Peter Vogel, Director of the Global Family Business Center at IMD Business School and Debiopharm Chair for Family Philanthropy. Vogel discusses his approach as a "pracademic" who bridges rigorous academic research with practical frameworks for family enterprises. He explains how family businesses evolve over generations from single-entity operations into complex enterprise systems with multiple holdings, describing examples of European families with thousands of members and hundreds of business entities. Vogel shares insights from his work creating practical tools like the Family Office Navigator and Family Philanthropy Navigator, emphasizing the importance of intergenerational planning for holistic transformations. The conversation explores global family office hubs, technological challenges facing family enterprises, and the strategic role of philanthropy in wealth transition.