The conversation you keep putting off is the one that matters.
Foster McCarlAdvisor to Family & Privately Held Businesses
For 20 years I've advised the CEOs, owners, and leaders of family and privately held companies on strategy, governance, leadership, and the family side of the business.
work
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Strategy
Where the business is headed and what has to happen this year to get there. Planning, vision, and the follow-through.
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Governance
Boards, councils, and who decides what, so the company doesn't depend on any one person forever.
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Leadership
One-on-one work with CEOs and the people about to run the place, including the odd job of inheriting a family company.
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Conversations
Ownership, succession, money, roles. The talks that keep getting postponed, held before they get expensive.
about
I grew up in a family business, a multigenerational mechanical contracting company. So when owners describe the pull between "it's just business" and "it's also family," I'm not guessing.
Everyone talks about the family-owned business. I work with the business-owned family. The family runs the business, and the business runs the family: the holidays, the roles, the relationships.
I speak on family business and leadership, and I serve on three boards:
- Bluegrass Center for Autism
- Autism Northwest
- University of Louisville Family Business Center
how
Unreasonable friend.
A friend who will tell you the hard truth is rare. I try to earn that trust quickly, then spend it. I'll say what is actually in the way, even if it risks the relationship.
Usually it's fixable. Usually you've been stuck because of fear or uncertainty, not because the problem is hard.
clients
25 on this list. Hover or tap a name.
work together
contact
Thirty minutes. No pitch.
Tell me what you've been putting off and we'll talk it through.