Selling Your Business Is Like Thanksgiving Dinner

It’s not often that I’m able to weave grandmothers, due diligence and airborne mashed potatoes into one post, but last year I managed to do it in a New York Times piece titled 5 Reasons Selling Your Business Is Like Thanksgiving Dinner. I had a ball writing it, and I hope you’ll have fun reading it. Following is an excerpt that includes reasons number one and two.

Tough Love For Family Business Transfers

My recent post in the New York Times deals with the thorny issue of transferring ownership of a family business from one generation to the next, or more accurately the decision not to. While family-owned businesses have impressive results, outperforming public companies in areas like stock price and return on equity, the statistics associated with ownership transfer are sobering. Following is the uncut version of my recent Email interview with author and third-generation business owner, Tom Deans.