Transforming Organizations. Improving Results.
We Help Family Owned Enterprises Thrive
If you own and/or lead a family owned enterprise that has the potential to perform at a higher level, JDR Growth Partners can help you raise the bar and achieve better results. We have extensive and successful experience working with family owners, boards, chief executives and senior leadership teams to capitalize on the advantages of being a family owned business. We're not just consultants. We've actually delivered exceptional results at all levels of family owned companies, from front line worker to CEO, independent board director, and as an adviser and partner. The services we provide include:
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Fully explore and solidify the owners' dreams for the future, choices, and posture toward the business, and facilitate alignment
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Elevate management succession planning and leadership development
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Prepare next generation leaders for ascension
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Articulate a family vision statement including goals for the board of directors
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Develop a strategic foundation for the company including vision, purpose, customer promise, reasons-to-believe, and core values
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Build a market-driven strategic plan that leverages your strategic foundation and core strengths to ensure long term viability and prosperity for generations to come
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Deploy the plan and use it to maximize workforce commitment
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Improve execution by focusing on strategic priorities, simplifying operations, and accelerating progress
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Coach teams collectively and 1:1 to higher levels of performance
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Ensure effective governance structures and processes
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Connect you with proven service providers you can trust to fill performance gaps and elevate performance
Family Ownership Matters
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80% of companies worldwide are family-owned
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Family-owned companies represent roughly one-third of the S&P 500, 40% of large companies in Europe, and 60% in East Asia and Latin America
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There are 5.5 million family-owned businesses in the United States
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Family Enterprises generate 57% of the U.S. GDP
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Family Enterprises employ 63% of the U.S. workforce
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75% of all new jobs are generated by family businesses
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60% of all publicly held U.S. companies are family-controlled
The Advantages of Family Ownership
There are always exceptions, but in general we have found that family owned companies tend to benefit from several potential advantages such as an authentic and interesting legacy, longer-term perspective, longevity of leadership, consistency, and genuine core values. We also know from extensive research that, all things else being equal, most consumers and customers prefer products and services offered by family owned companies.
As Wall Street increasingly puts pressure on leaders of publicly traded firms to deliver bottom line results faster than ever before, marketplace opportunities open for family owned companies willing to take a longer view, stay the course with a long-term strategy, invest capital with patience, innovate their business model, challenge conventional management wisdom, build upon alliance relationships that take time to fully cultivate, and shun the slowing effects of the bureaucracy that accompanies unnecessary control and regulation often encountered at larger public firms.
For some time now Bill George, the former Chairman and CEO at Medtronic and professor at Harvard Business School, has been voicing his concerns regarding the problems created by the growing desire for instant gratification in the public markets. More recently Lawrence Fink, Chairman and CEO at Blackrock, leveled this assessment: "The effects of the short-termist phenomenon are troubling both to those seeking to save for long-term goals such as retirement and for our broader economy," He says that such moves are pursued at the expense of investing in "innovation, skilled work forces or essential capital expenditures necessary to sustain long-term growth." This spells opportunity for family owned firms.
The Challenge
Unfortunately, many family owned enterprises fail to fully capitalize on these advantages. Only 30% last into the second generation, 12% are viable into the third generation, and a mere 3% survive into the fourth and later generations. A recent study by Egon Zehnder found that the family owned companies that stand the test of time are better at four critical success factors. They establish great governance, they preserve family gravity, they spot and develop talent, and they manage leadership succession with excellence. The study also concluded that successful family owned enterprises accomplish all four success factors by relentlessly focusing on core values and culture as guiding forces.
JDR Solutions
We help family owned businesses preserve what made them special while driving the change needed to achieve their full potential. We use a proprietary strategic planning process that encourages leaders and difference-makers at all levels to step up, leading to heightened collaboration, alignment, accountability and growth throughout your organization.
“The most successful, sustaining family business leaders we know are committed to developing and refining a personal philosophy of leadership. Jude Rake provides an excellent example of such. His decades of experience and reflection have formed a compelling model of leadership principles and purpose. His devotion to servant leadership is inspiring.”
- John L. Ward, Co-director of The Center for Family Enterprises and Clinical Professor of Family Enterprises at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and co-founder of The Family Business Consulting Group
"Jude Rake takes apart and examines strategy through the lens of servant leadership. His practical approach offers a clear eyed and accessible solution to first understanding and then overcoming a company’s obstacles to growth. The leader’s responsibility to be self aware, empowering of others and accountable are not new concepts – but Jude’s treatment is a breath of fresh air that leaders can intuitively understand and quickly adopt to create positive and sustainable change in themselves, their teams and their firms."
- Anne K. Smart, Director of The Family Business Center at The Quinlan School of Business, Loyola University Chicago
"I started working with Jude in early 2016 with the goal to improve myself as a CEO and my company. As a successful second generation privately held company, I wanted to ensure JVM was well positioned with the most talented leaders and most efficient and effective processes to support our long-term growth objectives.
Jude was extremely effective in working with me and my senior leadership team to identify and focus on our strengths, while addressing opportunities for improvement. Through an engaging strategic planning process, Jude not only facilitated the development of a formal strategic plan, but continues to work with us to coach our leaders through the implementation of the plan. I would highly recommend JDR to other organizations with the passion to succeed."
- Jay Madary, Owner and CEO at JVM Realty
