Featured
Decisions, Family, Research Findings
Will Talent Choose Your Family Enterprise?
Last week, we proudly watched the Class of 2026 graduate, and it feels like it is the right moment to ask a question that sits at the heart of both career development and family enterprise continuity: where can talent truly grow?
Artificial Intelligence, Decisions, Family, Governance, Management, Research Findings
Is AI a Threat to Legacy, or a New Way to Coauthor It?
As Columbia Business School deepens its institutional commitment to AI through its AI in Business Initiative and the upcoming "MBA Transformed: AI and Beyond" teaching symposium on June 1, 2026, family enterprises face a parallel question: is AI a threat to legacy, or a new way to coauthor it? A recent study in the Journal of Product Innovation Management, "AI Adoption in Family Firms: A Mixed-Methods Study on the Paradoxical Roles of Passive and Active Family Involvement," suggests AI adoption is as much a relationship and governance challenge as a technological one. Drawing on 125 interviews and survey data from 1,444 German firms, the authors find that passive family ownership may slow adoption, while active family management can accelerate it, particularly when paired with strong external ties to suppliers, customers, and even competitors. For enterprising families, the deeper insight is that legacy is not static; it is interpreted and renewed across generations. AI may become a voice of the next generation, offering younger family members a concrete way to contribute to continuity, if families are willing to turn legacy into a living conversation. Read the full article, Is AI a Threat to Legacy, or a New Way to Coauthor It?
Decisions, Entrepreneurial Leadership & Strategy, Family, Governance, Leadership, Management, Ownership, Research Findings, Strategy
What Our Giving Says About Us Beyond "How Much": What Family Giving Really Signals
A global survey of 525 family firm decision-makers across 21 countries finds that founder identity, whether Missionary or Darwinian, shapes philanthropic behavior across generations. Missionary founders, driven by social purpose, produce giving that grows stronger over time as their legacy is idealized and absorbed into family identity. Darwinian founders, motivated by competitive logic, engage in more reputational giving that can shift with other priorities. Transgenerational control intentions further complicate the picture: families focused on succession may quietly redirect philanthropic energy inward. For advisors, the implication is clear: identity, not just structure, determines whether family giving becomes a lasting legacy or a secondary priority. Read the full article, What Our Giving Says About Us, and explore the Richards & Kammerlander study in Family Business Review.
Decisions, Entrepreneurial Leadership & Strategy, Family, Governance, Leadership, Management, Ownership, Research Findings, Strategy
The Cost of Control: Is Your Legacy Fueling “Innovation Reluctance”?
A large-scale global study of 3,322 publicly listed firms across 32 OECD countries finds that family involvement is, on average, associated with lower market valuation, particularly when renewal investment is weak or governance rigor is unclear. While family ownership is discounted less in strong institutional environments, the valuation penalty tied to family CEOs persists across contexts. Crucially, underinvestment in R&D partially explains this performance gap, suggesting that visible, disciplined innovation is a key credibility signal to markets.For family enterprises, the message is not anti-control. It is structural: legacy, governance, and geography determine whether family influence fuels long-term value or quietly contributes to “innovation reluctance.”
Artificial Intelligence, Consulting, Decisions, Family, Family Office, Leadership and Strategy, Management, Ownership, Research Findings
Our Wish for 2026: Conversations That Build Capacity for the Year Ahead
This piece closes the loop on a year of Family Enterprise Insights by naming the common thread beneath our 2025 research: trust as infrastructure.
Explore Further
Decisions, Family, Research Findings
Will Talent Choose Your Family Enterprise?
Last week, we proudly watched the Class of 2026 graduate, and it feels like it is the right moment to ask a question that sits at the heart of both career development and family enterprise continuity: where can talent truly grow?
Artificial Intelligence, Decisions, Family, Governance, Management, Research Findings
Is AI a Threat to Legacy, or a New Way to Coauthor It?
As Columbia Business School deepens its institutional commitment to AI through its AI in Business Initiative and the upcoming "MBA Transformed: AI and Beyond" teaching symposium on June 1, 2026, family enterprises face a parallel question: is AI a threat to legacy, or a new way to coauthor it? A recent study in the Journal of Product Innovation Management, "AI Adoption in Family Firms: A Mixed-Methods Study on the Paradoxical Roles of Passive and Active Family Involvement," suggests AI adoption is as much a relationship and governance challenge as a technological one. Drawing on 125 interviews and survey data from 1,444 German firms, the authors find that passive family ownership may slow adoption, while active family management can accelerate it, particularly when paired with strong external ties to suppliers, customers, and even competitors. For enterprising families, the deeper insight is that legacy is not static; it is interpreted and renewed across generations. AI may become a voice of the next generation, offering younger family members a concrete way to contribute to continuity, if families are willing to turn legacy into a living conversation. Read the full article, Is AI a Threat to Legacy, or a New Way to Coauthor It?
Decisions, Entrepreneurial Leadership & Strategy, Family, Governance, Leadership, Management, Ownership, Research Findings, Strategy
What Our Giving Says About Us Beyond "How Much": What Family Giving Really Signals
A global survey of 525 family firm decision-makers across 21 countries finds that founder identity, whether Missionary or Darwinian, shapes philanthropic behavior across generations. Missionary founders, driven by social purpose, produce giving that grows stronger over time as their legacy is idealized and absorbed into family identity. Darwinian founders, motivated by competitive logic, engage in more reputational giving that can shift with other priorities. Transgenerational control intentions further complicate the picture: families focused on succession may quietly redirect philanthropic energy inward. For advisors, the implication is clear: identity, not just structure, determines whether family giving becomes a lasting legacy or a secondary priority. Read the full article, What Our Giving Says About Us, and explore the Richards & Kammerlander study in Family Business Review.
Decisions, Entrepreneurial Leadership & Strategy, Family, Governance, Leadership, Management, Ownership, Research Findings, Strategy
The Cost of Control: Is Your Legacy Fueling “Innovation Reluctance”?
A large-scale global study of 3,322 publicly listed firms across 32 OECD countries finds that family involvement is, on average, associated with lower market valuation, particularly when renewal investment is weak or governance rigor is unclear. While family ownership is discounted less in strong institutional environments, the valuation penalty tied to family CEOs persists across contexts. Crucially, underinvestment in R&D partially explains this performance gap, suggesting that visible, disciplined innovation is a key credibility signal to markets.For family enterprises, the message is not anti-control. It is structural: legacy, governance, and geography determine whether family influence fuels long-term value or quietly contributes to “innovation reluctance.”
Artificial Intelligence, Consulting, Decisions, Family, Family Office, Leadership and Strategy, Management, Ownership, Research Findings
Our Wish for 2026: Conversations That Build Capacity for the Year Ahead
This piece closes the loop on a year of Family Enterprise Insights by naming the common thread beneath our 2025 research: trust as infrastructure.
Asset Management, Family, Family Office, Leadership and Strategy, Research Findings, Tax Policy
The Quiet Choices That Shape Family Wealth
Most families assume wealth is lost through dramatic failures—a bad investment, a misjudged expansion, an unexpected crisis. But new research from Columbia Business School reveals something more subtle and far more consequential: long-term wealth is shaped by the small, ordinary decisions families make repeatedly over time. How often you rebalance. When you recognize gains or losses. Whether your advisors follow a disciplined process or react emotionally. These quiet choices—not portfolio size—explain why some families steadily compound wealth across generations while others slowly fall behind. This article explores the unseen mechanisms that drive long-run outcomes and offers tools to help families examine the habits, systems, and governance structures that support true resilience.
Artificial Intelligence, Curriculum, Family, Leadership and Strategy, Research Findings
From Legacy to Algorithms: How Family Enterprises Can Lead the Age of Artificial Intelligence
AI is redefining the meaning of continuity for family enterprises. New research reveals how families can turn artificial intelligence into a new form of capital—one grounded in learning, trust, and shared purpose across generations.
Family, Leadership, Ownership, Research Findings
Beyond Time Off: Regeneration, Burnout, and the Hidden Cost of Always Being “On”
A new study by Blumentritt, Randolph, and Marchisio reframes burnout in family enterprises as a systemic issue—not simply the result of long hours, but of blurred roles, emotional labor, and constant entwinement of personal and professional identity. Unlike in traditional firms, stepping away from work may feel like stepping out of the family. The research highlights that effective recovery goes beyond rest—it requires intentional, identity-affirming experiences and collective shifts in how families structure time, roles, and expectations.
Family, Leadership, Ownership, Research Findings
Family of Choice: In-Laws and the Enterprising Family
In-laws are part of the family — but what does that mean in the context of a family enterprise? This essay explores the hidden influence of in-laws on continuity, identity, and governance across generations. Drawing on research by John Rosso and perspectives from family systems theory, it challenges families to reflect on whether their treatment of in-laws is thoughtful and aligned with long-term goals, or driven by default assumptions that may unintentionally undermine connection and stewardship.