Successful Generations

In this episode, my guest Daniel Van Der Vliet and I dig into family business from the family business center/academic perspective. Dan is currently The John and Dyan Smith Executive Director of Family Business, part of the Smith Family Business Initiative, at Cornell University. Dan tells us about his role and the family business initiative at Cornell, which is fairly unique. There are less than 100 programs in North America focused on family business—especially staggering considering there are close to 4,000 programs on entrepreneurship.   Together, we discuss family business centers and their role as a resource for family businesses; Dan gives us his version of OMFG (ownership, management, governance and family); and we go deep on the link between family business and entrepreneurship.   Topics discussed in this episode:   Meet Dan  (1:52) What is a family business center? (3:10) The importance of peer-to-peer learning (4:48) Dann’s version of OMFG (7:38) Tools for good governance (13:20) Family business a