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Course Description

Leading family businesses requires unique perspectives and strategies to help you thrive. By gaining insights into the particular challenges that family-owned businesses face, you can prepare yourself and your business for difficulties and reach your goals.

In this course, you will analyze how family, business, and ownership overlap to identify where confusion or tension may arise among these groups. You will also create a family diagram and use it to understand more about how patterns emerge across generations. You will then prepare to have a conversation with a family member about the family history to which you are not privy. Finally, you will assess what governance looks like in a family business, drafting recommendations for improvements to governance systems. By the end of the course, you will have fundamental analysis tools specific to the family-business context to support you toward success.

Faculty Author

Daniel Van Der Vliet

Benefits to the Learner

  • Grasp the fundamental tools necessary for examining the functioning of any family business
  • Explore the value of a family diagram for starting conversations to support the business
  • Examine the informal structures and practices that are needed to ensure that effective governance is accepted and implemented in family businesses

Target Audience

  • Family members employed in running a family-owned business
  • Non-family employees involved in running a family business (key leaders, management)
  • Individuals interested in broad-based family business dynamics
  • Consultants
  • Lawyers
  • Accountants

Applies Towards the Following Certificates

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Enroll Now - Select a section to enroll in
Type
2 week
Dates
Mar 05, 2025 to Mar 18, 2025
Total Number of Hours
10.0
Course Fee(s)
Contract Fee $0.00
Section Notes

IMPORTANT COURSE INFORMATION

  • Note that as part of your required course activities, you will be asked to arrange an interview with a family member.
  • This course includes a year of free access to Symposium! These events feature live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore today’s most pressing leadership topics. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending a Symposium is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.
Type
2 week
Dates
May 14, 2025 to May 27, 2025
Total Number of Hours
10.0
Course Fee(s)
Contract Fee $0.00
Section Notes

IMPORTANT COURSE INFORMATION

  • Note that as part of your required course activities, you will be asked to arrange an interview with a family member.
  • This course includes a year of free access to Symposium! These events feature live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore today’s most pressing leadership topics. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending a Symposium is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.
Type
2 week
Dates
Jul 23, 2025 to Aug 05, 2025
Total Number of Hours
10.0
Course Fee(s)
Contract Fee $0.00
Section Notes

IMPORTANT COURSE INFORMATION

  • Note that as part of your required course activities, you will be asked to arrange an interview with a family member.
  • This course includes a year of free access to Symposium! These events feature live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore today’s most pressing leadership topics. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending a Symposium is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.
Type
2 week
Dates
Oct 01, 2025 to Oct 14, 2025
Total Number of Hours
10.0
Course Fee(s)
Contract Fee $0.00
Section Notes

IMPORTANT COURSE INFORMATION

  • Note that as part of your required course activities, you will be asked to arrange an interview with a family member.
  • This course includes a year of free access to Symposium! These events feature live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore today’s most pressing leadership topics. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending a Symposium is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.
Type
2 week
Dates
Dec 10, 2025 to Dec 23, 2025
Total Number of Hours
10.0
Course Fee(s)
Contract Fee $0.00
Section Notes

IMPORTANT COURSE INFORMATION

  • Note that as part of your required course activities, you will be asked to arrange an interview with a family member.
  • This course includes a year of free access to Symposium! These events feature live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore today’s most pressing leadership topics. Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending a Symposium is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.
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