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Leveraging the "both/and" approach |
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Dear Reader,
A critical business competency that contributes to the success of family firms is their capacity to recognise and manage paradoxes – of holding together seemingly contradictory truths that allow new opportunities to unfold. Their strength lies in separating problems that must be solved from paradoxes that must be managed and in their ability to harness the creative tension that arises when adopting a “both/and” approach.
One of the most significant paradoxes that family firms address is – Does the family come first or does the business come first? The answer is yes – to both. By going beyond binary “either/or” thinking, many family firms not only survive but thrive and achieve greater profits than their non-family counterparts. Research suggests that 20% of family businesses continue past the 50-year point, compared with the 15% of S&P 500 that survive the 40-year mark.
Consider another paradox: valuing individual vs. collective performance. Reward the individual and risk self-oriented silos. Reward the group and risk diffusion of responsibility. Family firms that succeed here have used the “both/and” approach. They have been open to the possibility that the business can be adapted to meet the needs of individual family members while simultaneously demanding psychological investment into the collective by way of upholding family values and norms to ensure business success and continuity. They design systems that honour both personal and collective well-being, recognising that one fuels the other.
This is in contrast to the ask of managers in corporate organisations when it comes to problem solving. The emphasis is typically on spotting the issue, analysing and finding a resolution that is clean, clear, and conclusive. But when problems appear unsolvable, when solving one part of the problem results in creating another, managers can do well to separate problems from paradoxes.
The idea is not to replicate specific solutions adopted by family firms. Their context is unique. But their wisdom, their muscle memory for navigating contradictions has broader relevance. We can draw inspiration from their capacity to hold the tension of opposing truths to generate solutions that are richer than those that come from making either/or choice.
Paradoxes won’t fit neatly into performance dashboards. But for leaders willing to lean into the tension, they offer something rarer than certainty: an enduring advantage.
Warm regards, Janaki |
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PRACTITIONER SPOTLIGHT : MSA KUMAR |
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Hello, I'm MSA Kumar:
I’m often called MSA, and I’ve spent nearly five decades navigating the world of business, from multinationals to deeply rooted family enterprises. Based in Kochi, Kerala, I began with an Agricultural Sciences degree, followed by an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad in 1976. My journey includes sales leadership roles at Sandoz and Bayer, and nearly 20 years as CEO and Managing Director of AVT McCormick and AVT Natural. Today, I work as a Family Business Advisor and CEO Coach, helping build family charters, guide succession planning, and bridge generational shifts with clarity and compassion. |
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Favourite Tools :
As a certified CEO Coach (Coaching Foundation of India), I’ve worked with several psychometric tools. Over time, I’ve come to rely heavily on the MBTI® and Saville® Work Strengths and Environmental Fit assessments, both offered through Anahat. These tools bring structure to a domain often shaped by instinct and legacy. In family businesses, where hiring, onboarding, and leadership development are deeply personal, psychometrics offer a much-needed lens of objectivity. The Saville® suite, in particular, helps assess behavioral strengths and cultural fit, both crucial for making the right talent decisions.
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Saville ® Resource : Assessing Leadership Potential
Traditional models of potential can be very restrictive in terms of what they say and measure. They tend to present one very clear definition of potential that applies to all leadership across all organizations and fail to account for different types of leadership roles. Some also take a black-box approach, making it difficult to clearly see what sits behind an algorithm. The Wave Leadership Potential Dashboard goes beyond the constraints of one universal lens so often used in traditional methods, offering a new way of capturing potential
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Saville® Resource : The Power of Combining Assessments
Combining multiple psychometric assessments into one single, seamless selection stage can provide a number of benefits. This approach to assessment creates a more comprehensive picture of individuals’ potential and more accurate forecasts of their performance at work. Here's an article that explores the benefits of combining assessments based on an extensive program of research and data modelling.
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Anahat is hosting an exclusive, two-part Masterclass on the Saville Leadership Impact® and Leadership Risk® Frameworks. These are frameworks that allow for sharper interpretation, more strategic application, and stronger alignment between leadership potential and business performance.
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Part 1 : 29 May 2025, 6:30pm - 8:00pm IST
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Part 2 : 26 June 2025, 6:30pm - 8:00pm IST
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Midweek Musing #196 21 May, '25 |
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Anahat has been working in the area of Organisation Development and psychometric assessments for over twenty years. We offer certification training on well-known personality assessments like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®) instrument, The FIRO® assessments, the Strong Interest Inventory (SII®), Saville Assessments and the Diamond Power Index. |
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