A sixth-generation owner of one of the nation’s oldest family businesses will help other families as they look to the future at an upcoming retreat. Kevin Hancock is the CEO of Hancock Lumber Co., a 620-person company established in 1848. Hancock Lumber operates 12 lumberyards, three sawmills and a truss manufacturing facility in Maine and […]
How do hundreds of USD students feel about joining a family business? De Vee Dkystra asked them. “Not very much research has been done on this topic, and we wanted to know how college-age students feel about joining either their family business, if they have one, or any family business,” said Dkystra, professor of business
New research offers family business insight across generations Read More »
If you’re not familiar with the business, your first guess likely is that Auto Body Specialties is a place to take your vehicle for body work. “It’s common for people to think we’re a body shop instead of a body shop supplier, but we’re 100 percent wholesale,” president Jim Roddel said. “We sell to body
Family-owned Auto Body Specialties grows into third generation Read More »
Chick-fil-A Inc. chairman Dan Cathy will share his experience growing a family business at next week’s Prairie Family Business Association annual conference in Sioux Falls. Cathy, who will speak via videoconferencing at the event April 28-29, served as CEO of the Atlanta-based fast-food chicken restaurant his father founded from 2013 until 2021 when he transitioned
Chick-fil-A chairman to keynote upcoming family business conference Read More »
Shea Peffly was convinced to make a career change when she saw firsthand how effective the Entrepreneurial Operating System, or EOS, could be. Developed by Gino Wickman and described in his bestselling book “Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business,” EOS tools are being used by more than 80,000 companies to improve the operational value
Has your family business considered using EOS? This is the best way to start Read More »
It is possible: Creating sustainable practices in business can lead to retaining people and increasing profits. And Heidi Sanborn is someone who helps businesses make it happen. The California-based founder and executive director of the National Stewardship Action Council since 2015, she will speak at the annual Prairie Family Business Association conference on how family
People, planet, profit: 3 elements that lead toward true sustainability in business Read More »
Ask family businesses – or any businesses, for that matter – what could be improved, and increasingly culture is at the top of their list. “This is a hot topic for our members,” said Stephanie Larscheid, executive director of the Prairie Family Business Association. “We keep hearing from family businesses about the need to enhance
Struggling with culture in your business? Their strategies will help Read More »
As the story goes, Ray Syverson Sr. arrived in Sioux Falls with not much more than a bucket of tools. He’d learned the tile business from family in Wisconsin and then saved up enough train fare to get as far west as Sioux Falls. It was the early 1930s, the Great Depression, and Ray Sr.
Syverson Tile & Stone marks 90 years of family business success Read More »
With more than 40 years of experience working with family businesses – plus his own – Joseph Astrachan has vast expertise in helping families navigate the unique environment that’s created when work and family intertwine. Astrachan’s own family business background includes an extended family that has owned businesses ranging from container and tanker shipping and
Family business expert to address family dynamics, best practices Read More »
Mike Michalowicz has definitely lived the ups and downs of business. By his 35th birthday, he founded and sold two multimillion-dollar companies. Confident he had identified the formula for success, he became a small-business angel investor – and proceeded to lose his entire fortune. Then, he started all over again, driven to find better ways