The 2025 summer Harvard Business Review special issue is titled, Dealing with Difficult People: navigate conflict, build trust and work with anyone. There are 29 articles focused on how to build better working relationships with colleagues, how to have difficult conversations at work, and guidance on building higher-performing teams. The issue’s contributing authors are noted experts and it’s an excellent read.
What does this have to do with enterprising families?
When I explain our work at Bench, I often talk about the fact that we're applying corporate tools and strategies to enterprising families, from crafting decision rights and sound governance to succession planning and leadership coaching. Corporations and academic institutions have spent billions researching and implementing these practices. My argument is, why not use them in the context of a family ownership group? And frankly, not just for those with family businesses and family offices, any family can gain from the investments made in these areas.
So, in the spirit of applying these corporate strategies for family application, the following are the 29 articles in the HBR summer issue with the titles changed slightly to apply to families (often with just one or two words change); the parallels are uncanny and I’m guessing several could apply to you and your family.
- How to Navigate Conflict with a Family Member
- Taking the Stress Out of Stressful Conversations
- How to Master Conflict Resolution
- Get Over Your Fear of Conflict
- Words and Phrases to Avoid in Difficult Family Conversations
- Strategies for Dealing with Difficult Family Members
- Do You Hate Your Mom or Dad?
- Persuading the Unpersuadable
- Three Types of Difficult Family Members and How to Deal with Them
- When You’re Stuck Dealing with an Unmotivated Family Member
- How to Deal with a Family Member Who Thinks They are Always Right
- How to Respond When a Family Member Takes Credit for your Work (this one is a little trickier in a family setting)
- How to Deal with a Family Member Who Creates Unnecessary Conflict
- Dealing with a Family Member Who Feels That the World is Against Them
- Five Ways to Deal with a Family Member who Doesn’t Respect the Rules
- How to Deal with a Mean Family Member
- How to Confront a Bully in your Family
- Five Strategies to Help You Manage Resentment in your Family
- How to Help a Family Member Who Rubs People the Wrong Way
- How to Mentor a Narcissist
- Family, Stop Rewarding Toxic Behavior
- How to Deal with a Passive-Aggressive Family Member
- How to Live with a Narcissistic Family Member
- How to Preempt Family Conflict
- Want Collaboration in your Family? Accept – and Actively Manage – Conflict
- How Family Members Can Have Good Tension
- When Two of your Family Members are Fighting
- How Bullying Manifests at Home – and How to Stop It
- Managing Family with Conflicting Political Views
If any of these titles resonated with you, I suggest getting a copy of the issue and work on applying the strategies within your family. Also, over the next couple of weeks, I will be re-writing several of the articles for families and posting them on LinkedIn with the hope of helping families benefit from the work happening every day in corporations across the globe.
