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The Future Leader

The Successor's Guide to Family Business Leadership

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The Future Leader

Written by: Patti Durand
Narrated by: Patti Durand
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About this listen

The Future Leader is a business fable that serves as a practical resource, offering guidance to prepare for leadership while navigating the unique challenges of family dynamics and business responsibilities. Follow a candid dialogue between Jordan, a new successor, and Kelly, a family friend who has years of firsthand experience in the trials of succession. When Jordan seeks advice, Kelly commits to mentoring and sharing hard-earned wisdom in the development of leadership skills. Through their conversation, listeners will gain a fresh perspective on the role of a successor and discover actionable insights they can apply within their own family businesses.

The author, Patti Durand, grew up in a family business near Teulon, Manitoba, Canada. Her career has included agriculture, marketing, and finance, while managing businesses alongside her husband, Larry. The Future Leader draws on the many lessons she observed while coaching and facilitating hundreds of family business conversations. Patti often wondered, What if successors started preparing for leadership earlier and were encouraged to lead the process? This book is her offering to help create that possibility.

©2024 Patti Durand (P)2024 Patti Durand Management & Leadership Mentoring & Coaching New Business Enterprises Personal Success Small Business & Entrepreneurship Business Leadership
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I read this book based on the recommendations of others and it definitely did not disappoint! The author clearly has spent allot of time gathering information and key points for anyone looking to take over a family business. I think this book is also very applicable for someone joining a small company, potentially a startup in a leadership role. Understanding the dynamics at play and how to work with them are a huge part of success and the author outlines them in a way that’s easy to follow and learn.

A Relatable Story

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This book is an easy to follow, actionable guide to succession in family business. It provides great tools for the next generation to prepare for success in any family business.

Actionable and informative

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The Future Leader takes readers on an unexpected and uncomfortable journey — which means, of course, that it’s fascinating, full of power and truth and wisdom, and hits readers in new ways. Designed by an expert in farm family dynamics and farm transitions, Durand pulls back to offer a higher level view appropriate for anyone whose family has built a business, and they are struggling to ensure that they find a good place within it. Some of the pieces that I thought were particularly powerful is Durand’s ability to remind the reader (learners) to include lessons and practices which are common outside of family businesses, such as continually updating a resume, taking courses to improve skills, using business practice tools such as meetings with agendas, and so on that when someone comes from a classic generational family farm feel very different — but can absolutely bring a new level of professional development to the whole farm or other family business. I found it helpful to imagine a farm on one hand, and a small rural jewellery and gift shop on the other, as a way to consider and imagine how the book might bring impact. I also liked the use of sound to signal when we needed to pay particular attention — great sound editing technique by the producers. There can be a tendency in a non-fiction book to ‘tell’ rather than ‘show’ but the technique of adding in the threadline story of Kelly and Jordan (deliberately gender neutral names) discussing and learning and teaching one another solved that issue in an effective way. If I had a criticism, it’s that I’d have liked more of those stories, or of both of them telling stories that they knew about others in various situations. Overall, I could imagine using some of the techniques in this book at our family farm, as a way to formalize and fully understand the story of the farm to date, and to be clear on where the farm is going — and why.

Gamechanger to rise and build a career within a family enterprise

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This book is full of wisdom and written in a way that is applicable to any family business. It also will hit home with any member of the business, be it the outgoing owner or incoming successor.
Actually there are plenty of lessons in here for any manager, even if you’re not working in a family owned business, there is always something to learn or improve on!

Full of wisdom

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I truly enjoy the learning in a story telling format. I view this book in the same category as the Wealthy Barber and I hope it become a must read in colleges and universities for future entrepreneurs. As an advisors working with entrepreneurs families I am recommending this book.

a must read for any future eager of a family business.

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