Family Business Succession Planning & Executive Search Blog

In family businesses, compensation is often the topic everyone avoids for fear it will spark conflict among family members and employees. In practice, the opposite is usually true. Getting clear about how and why people are paid usually relieves pressure rather than creating it. The families that struggle are the ones operating without a policy.

When a family business owner says they want to hire someone who “shares our values,” they usually mean something more specific and more consequential than they realize. What they often mean is: someone who shares our beliefs. Our faith, perhaps, or our political worldview. It’s a sense that this person is “like us.”

Family businesses account for more than 75% of the American GDP. They're not a niche. They're not small. They're the foundation of our economy — and they've largely been underserved when it comes to finding the right executive talent. The Stranberg Talent Network was built to change that.