of the family and the demands of the business overlap—and require parallel planning action to ensure that business success does not create a family or business disaster. Capital How are the firm’s financial resources allocated between different and family demands? Control Who has decision-making power in the family and firm? Careers How are individuals selected for senior leadership and governance positions in the firm or family? Conflict How do we prevent this natural element of human relationships from becoming the default pattern of interaction? Culture How are the family and business values sustained and transmitted to owners, employees and younger family members? Fair process Fairness is a fundamental issue in family business decision-making. Solutions that are perceived as fair by the family and business stakeholders are more likely to be accepted and supported. Fair process helps create organizational justice by engaging family members, whether as owners and employees, in a series of practical steps to address and resolve critical issues. Fair process lays a foundation for continued family participation over generations. Emotional dimension The challenge faced by family businesses and their stakeholders, is to recognise the issues that they face, understand how to develop strategies to address them and more importantly, to create narratives, or family stories that explain the emotional dimension of the issues to the family. The most intractable family business issues are not the business problems the organisation faces, but the emotional issues that compound them. Many years of achievement through generations can be destroyed by the next, if the family fails to address the psychological issues they face. Applying psychodynamic concepts will help to explain behaviour and will enable the family to prepare for life cycle transitions and other issues that may arise. Family-run organisations need a new understanding and a broader perspective on the human dynamics of family firms with two complementary frameworks, psychodynamic and family systematic. Structuring When the family business is basically owned and operated by one person, that person usually does the necessary balancing automatically. For example, the founder may decide the business needs to build a new plant and take less money out of the business for a period so the business can accumulate cash needed to expand. In making this decision, the founder is balancing his personal interests (taking cash out) with the needs of the business (expansion). The assets that are owned by the family, in most family businesses,