Blog
What's A Family To Do... Turning Differences into Opportunities
Unfortunately, statistics for the longevity of these family-run businesses are not positive. Thirty percent of all family-owned businesses make the transition into the second generation, while only 12% are still around in the third, and a mere 3% of all family businesses survive into the fourth and beyond, despite family owners wanting them to.
Three Failures on a Couch Video Series
Rave reviews from their first video blog titled “Three Failures on a Couch” prompted the faculty of Navigating Systems to continue their dialogue addressing the real-world application of Bowen Family Systems Theory to family and professional life.
Peace in our Families; Peace in the World
For someone as entrenched in family systems theory for the past 30 years as I have been, it is, above all, an example of how we humans are capable of a broad and creative repertoire of behavior to help us deal with difficult circumstances.
Working Relationships in Family Business: Hard, Possible, Necessary!
Mention the topic of family enterprise and nine times out of ten you will get an immediate and loaded response on how difficult it is to work with family. Fraught with problems! Damaging to relationships! Everyone has something to say about it, proffering opinions that come from first-hand experience or not.
Talking Turkey
Once again, Thanksgiving approaches. Along with figuring out the complex logistics of what to serve and who’ll bring what and what about the vegans and how much wine and where everyone will sleep and what questions are deep enough for meaningful discussion yet still fun, I begin the process of keying into my own gratitude. The list begins to take form in my head as I count all the many blessings in my life.
Confessions of a Grant Study Groupie
In Adaptation to Life, Vaillant poses some fundamental questions about individual differences in confronting life's stresses. Why do some of us cope so well with what life allots us, he asks, while others cope badly or not at all? Are there ways in which understanding Bowen Family Systems Theory could effectively alter the patterns of our automatic behavior that make us unhappy, unhealthy, and unwise? Could it provide us with other choices? With the additional knowledge of Bowen Family Systems, I believe that we might be able to make the changes in our relationships which promote greater emotional maturity to have a more emotionally rewarding life.
Schools of Fish and Human Behavior
Shortly after listening to Dr. Couzin talk about his research with schools of Shiner fish, I began thinking about my own family as a collective and how anxiety can flow through a human system. The family group can move in a direction that I do not agree with, tension in the system increases, and I find myself having to swim alone for some time. I could also see how understanding collective behavior can provide a new lens through which to understand leading or having a different position from the group, in business organizations.
The Costs of Automatic Upset
Even with awareness, manage the automatic upset that sometimes surfaces within one’s self can be challenging.