When one partner hires against the other, the diagnosis becomes ammunition
When one partner hires against the other, the diagnosis becomes ammunition.
The son comes home with a report that proves him right, the father recognizes the author on the first page, and whoever was called in to unlock things becomes one more party in the fight.
That is why, in family businesses, I have a rule I don't negotiate: I answer to the CNPJ, not the CPF. The company's tax ID, not the individual's.
I got there by going through situations. I support, and have managed, a number of companies, and the question that decides whether I come in was never which side I'm on. It is who I answer to.
It is a strong position, maybe too strong. Because of it I lost many chances to be a mentor, a coach and that kind of role. But I am not a partner's silver bullet. I am the foundation of the company: of the family and the partners together, each one heard in full, all with the same report in hand.
I don't get into fights. I end fights. And when there is no room left for conversation, it stops being my role and becomes the lawyer's.
Until that is resolved, every month one side waits for the other to give in, the company decides less: investment on hold, a successor with no date, a partner who only shows up to veto.
When the company once again has someone who speaks for it, the stalled decision starts moving again.
In your company, who speaks for the CNPJ when the partners stop talking?
Read next
Two decision-makers in the same room form a queueTwo decision-makers in the same room do not form a partnership. They form a queue.Read ›
Your Board has a vote to grow. It has no vote to shrinkEvery growth agenda has a ritual. Retrenchment has none, and it happens without minutes.Read ›
The Board did not decide. It waited until it no longer had toHave you ever voted, on a Board, to ban something that was already running inside the company?Read ›Also published on LinkedIn, where the conversation continues in the comments.