Of course, Ward agrees that maintaining a healthy business is also vital. A lot of people would say that building a business and a family are in conflict. What is needed is different. We've got two institutions, family and business, they overlap, and we've got a lot of issues where family meets business and business meets family. They can create a lot of friction because family has different orientations and values than business.
Families are more socialistic, more emotionally based, less task based.
Power, Ward says, usually lies with the senior generation. Autocratic decision making is probably the most common strategy, but it tends to break down once Mom and dad are out of the picture. Politics is the art of convincing enough key players to do it your way. It can be consensual, satisfying, and the easiest way to go in a lot of situations. While most companies address succession and other family issues through one of these two models, for Ward, the other two Ps must be included.