FBA Book Recommendations
These are books that have been hand selected by the FBA members that we highly recommend to family business owners
Working with The Ones You Love
Denis T Jaffe
In the first book on family business by a family therapist, Dr. Dennis Jaffe shows you how to manage the complex work and personal relationships that are intertwined in family business.
Start with Why
Simon Sinek
Discover the book that is captivating millions on TikTok and that served as the basis for one of the most popular TED Talks of all time—with more than 56 million views and counting. Over a decade ago, Simon Sinek started a movement that inspired millions to demand purpose at work, to ask what was the WHY of their organization. Since then, millions have been touched by the power of his ideas, and these ideas remain as relevant and timely as ever.
Good To Great
Jim Collins
Built to Last, the defining management study of the '90s, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning.
The Psychology of Money
Morgan Housel
In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life’s most important topics.
Myths & Mortals
Andrew Keyt
Myths & Mortals, Family Business Leadership and Succession Planning provides insights and strategies for successors of family businesses. Successors often find themselves in the shadow of their parents making it difficult to establish credibility in the family business and tap into their own strengths. The stress of emulating a parent begins to clash with who they are and who they want to be as a leader.
Perpetuating the Family Business
John L. Ward
John L. Ward is a leading world expert on the family business. In this book he brings together a vast amount of experience to show the, 'best practices' of the most successful and long-lasting families in business. He provides a framework of five insights and four principles in which to position his 50 lessons for family businesses. This is the most comprehensive book on sustaining the family business and contains international examples and cases and essential tools and checklists of best practice.
Harvard Business Review Family Business Handbook
Josh Barron & Rob Lachenauer
Though "family business" may sound like it refers only to mom-and-pop shops, businesses owned by families are among the most significant and numerous in the world. But surprisingly few resources exist to help navigate the unique challenges you face when you share the executive suite, financial statements, and holidays. How do you make the right decisions, critical to the long-term survival of any business, with the added challenge of having to do so within the context of a family?
Deconstructing Conflict
Doug Baumoel & Blair Trippe
Deconstructing Conflict draws upon nearly fifteen years of experience in which Doug Baumoel and Blair Trippe have helped scores of enterprising families navigate the challenges of owning and managing together as family. Based upon their groundbreaking methodology known as "The Conflict Equation," the book presents five foundational concepts to help readers deconstruct conflict into its component parts. It will help you understand the reasons that underlie all conflict, what triggers active conflict, and why conflict can be so extreme and intractable in family business systems. This book will arm family business stakeholders and their advisors with the most cutting-edge thinking for achieving generational success in family enterprise.
Trapped In the Family Business
Michael A Klein PSYD
How do individuals get trapped in their family business? What does it look like when someone is trapped? Is exiting the only option? Based on interviews with family business members, owners, and their advisors, Trapped in the Family Business sheds light on this common yet unexplored issue and offers solutions for how to manage it. In the expanded second edition to this practical guide, Dr. Michael Klein shares research findings, insights, and how to avoid this challenging and complex situation. For more information, go to: trappedinthefamilybusiness.com
When Your Parents Sign the Paychecks
Greg McCann
This book is about self development and awareness for individuals and includes tools that can help a family get along better and have a more successful business.
