When you think about joining a family business as a nonfamily member, what comes to mind? Perhaps you envision sordid scenes from the HBO drama Succession, where conniving and backstabbing are the rule of the day. Or perhaps you picture a small, regionally focused firm mired in the past, clinging to the vision of a long-deceased founder.
These perceptions don’t always mirror reality, says Jennifer Pendergast, a clinical professor at Kellogg and the Executive Director of the John L. Ward Center for Family Enterprises.
[This article has been republished, with permission, from Kellogg Insight, the faculty research & ideas magazine of Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University]