About Me
Are you feeling frustrated within your family business?
Are these frustrations starting to impact on your relationships and the performance of the business? If you are feeling isolated and not sure where else to turn, I can help.
Are you looking to be proactive?
Do you want to explore ways to make your communication as a family more effective, start the discussions around passing the business to the next generation or exploring your other options. Is your family and business growing and you are looking at how best to manage this? I can help.
I provide empathetic, expert and impartial support to family businesses just like yours to help you to achieve what you want to with your family business. I help you to do the things that you may struggle to do well in-house. I have strong and subtle facilitation skills. I know the financial and the relationship worlds equally well. I am patient but my eye is on getting the right solutions as effectively and quickly as possible.
I am calm and constructive but when a situation requires blunt words, I will use them.
I have in my sights at all times, the wellbeing of each family member – and the all-important non-family employees too – as individuals in their own right, the future harmony of the family as a priceless unit, and the success of the business in so far as it aligns with the happiness of the individual family members and the family as a whole.
In short, I have the interests of all when I do my family business work, and I have a rare combination of skills that enables me to do such complex and long-term work successfully.
Problems I help solve
- Discussions around the future leadership or ownership of the business.
- Communication issues between family members.
- Communication with your senior management teams.
- Disagreements over the future direction of the business.
- Not knowing whether the next generation should or will join the business.
- Boundaries between family and business becoming ‘fuzzy’.
- Next generation feeling trapped in the family business.
- Sibling rivalry.
- Senior generation not letting go.
- Husband and wife teams having difficulty communicating with each other.
- Integration of non-family management teams into the family business.
Let's work together
Inviting a specialist family business adviser into your business and your family is a big step, I appreciate that, and it is not a responsibility I take lightly. The privilege of trust is something that I know I need to earn and so I spend time with you understanding your challenges and how I can help prior to any commitment to work together.
I also need to feel confident that we are a good fit when working together, my consultancy process is a process and it requires a commitment from those I work with to engage with that process
More About Me
My name is Russ Haworth and I am a UK based specialist family business adviser and I have been working with families in business for 15 years. My passion for this work has seen me move from a successful career in financial planning and wealth management to setting up this business.
I hold the Advanced Certificate in Family Business Advising, awarded by the Family Firms Institute and recognised globally as one of the leading certifications for those providing advice to family owned businesses.
As well as providing dedicated consultancy support to families in business, I am a regular speaker at national and international conferences (virtually at the moment!). I also host the widely acclaimed Family Business Podcast, one of the worlds’ leading resources for families in business.
The podcast has a global audience and is supported by The Institute for Family Business.
This has provided the opportunity for to chat to the worlds’ leading experts in the field of family business using the active listening skills and natural empathy that have helped me to gain recognition and a strong reputation within the field.
I have undertaken extensive training in complementary disciplines such as Life Planning and Coaching and I have a keen interest in psychology, organisational development and human behaviour.
I am the Co-Director of the Land of Giants academic research project which is giving a voice to ‘rising gen’ family members from families of significant achievement and / or wealth. The project is seeking to understand the impact on individuals of growing up in a world where they are surrounded by significance. It explores how rising gen can find their own significance and purpose in life, be that within or outside of the family business.
I am also working on a soon to be released book and podcast project that has captured, via a series of interviews, the range of experiences and mixed emotions that come from being in business with your family. The book and podcast series will cover virtually everything that any textbook or case study has ever done, but to a depth rarely seen; more personal and richer with lessons and experiences that will resonate with all family business owners.
The Family Business Podcast
I am the host of The Family Business Podcast, a widely acclaimed resource for families in business and their advisers. My aim with the podcast is to highlight that family businesses are not alone in the challenges that they face and that there are experts and solutions available. Why not have a listen to a couple of episodes here. You can find out more by visiting the podcast website.
Testimonials
Not only is this useful for resolving differences, but also for understanding why business processes are not working the way that they should. Russ’ keeps you focused on the reason why you are doing what you do.
Having him involved has given my team an incredibly powerful boost.
