Much like being responsible for the family car, a kid simply does not care as much because he did not pay for it, he says. They weren't the ones who created the business, they weren't the ones who built it, they weren't the ones who had to keep it afloat. It's not their baby. The trials and tribulations of Canada's family run businesses is the stuff of which books are made, especially with the fall of so many high-profile companies such as T. Eaton Co. in recent years.
Family businesses dominate some of the largest sectors of the Canadian economy.
Simply put, Dr. Wolfe conducts a series of interviews and tests to measure cognitive ability, motivational makeup and behavioural tendencies. Psychological testing, however, can work both ways, he says, pointing out that the founder of a Waterford, Ont.-based farming equipment business was convinced to pass control to his son after testing found him to be equal, if not superior, to his father in motivation and ability. Dr. Peter Hausdorf, an industrial psychologist with private sector experience who now teaches at the University of Guelph, has doubts about the services being offered by Dr. Wolfe. What he's trying to separate is the contribution of heredity from the contribution of environment. It's such a complex thing.