Events

Family enterprises thrive when generations learn to understand, not assume, one another’s perspectives. This interactive session brings parents and undergraduate students together to build a shared foundation for understanding how family businesses work and why alignment across family, ownership and business roles matters. Using a realistic family business case study, participants explore the dynamics that often sit beneath the surface of family enterprise conversations: differing expectations, unspoken assumptions, and competing priorities shaped by role, generation and ownership position. Rather than focusing on “right answers,” the session emphasizes insight, dialogue and shared learning.

A 90-minute interactive session for family business leaders led by Michael Christian, Bell Distinguished Scholar Professor of Organizational Behavior and area chair of Organizational Behavior at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. Family business leaders are uniquely committed to their enterprises, their families and their legacies. Yet that long-term orientation often comes with invisible energy drains: blurred boundaries, emotional labor, multigenerational expectations and the pressure to “hold it together” for others. Energy Crafting for Resilient Leaders introduces a science-based approach to high performance that moves beyond grit, endurance and willpower. Rather than asking leaders to push harder, this session reframes effectiveness around how energy is generated, allocated and renewed over time physically, cognitively and emotionally. Grounded in organizational and psychological research, the session is practical and highly interactive. Participants will identify hidden energy leaks common in family enterprises, examine how roles and relationships shape energy demands and experiment with small but powerful shifts in daily work habits. The focus is not self-care as an add-on, but leadership capacity as a system that can be intentionally designed. The core message is simple and countercultural: sustainable leadership is not about enduring more; it is about crafting energy more deliberately. Participants leave with a clear framework for understanding and managing leadership energy over time, practical tools to redesign work patterns without sacrificing performance or commitment and increased resilience to lead through complexity, continuity and change. This session equips family business leaders to sustain their effort, presence and impact not just for the next quarter, but for the long arc of leadership and legacy.