An abbreviated family-business overview that might have benefited from more in-depth treatment.
In this short work, debut author Legler offers practical advice about transferring a family business to future generations.
The Canadian author was born into a family business and also married into one. As a result, he concentrates less on a standard building-a-business approach and more on the unique aspects of ownership, governance and continuance of such businesses. Although the acronym SHIFT is a bit contrived, it allows Legler to anchor the guide around five specific areas in successive chapters: “Start” looks at how to begin a conversation about the future of a business; “Help” considers different types of advisers; “Invest” generally addresses the time and money it takes to operate a business; “Flexible” suggests that no single approach is right for everyone; and “Talk” emphasizes the importance of open communication. Two additional chapters look at how to govern a business through a family council and how to establish an office to manage wealth. The information that the author provides does have value, but it’s sketchy at best and occasionally rambling and repetitive. Legler offers his observations and opinions but few references to other works and no case studies or examples; the book is a scant 58 pages, including resources. Still, the author’s counsel, clearly based on experience, could prove helpful, as when he observes that “[p]hilanthropy can play another great role in a family business: finding a cause that gives the senior generations something to do after retirement.” Also, some of these pearls of wisdom will surely resonate with its target audience: “Family businesses are inherently complex because families are all about love and business is all about profit. They do not always go well together.”
An abbreviated family-business overview that might have benefited from more in-depth treatment.Pub Date: July 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1460249659
Page Count: 96
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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