IF YOU AND YOUR ORGANIZATION AND  PEOPLE  want to improve how well you understand yourself and each other, and through that self awareness increase your ability to manage your traits and tendencies, individually and as a team, please consider how I might help.

To decide if we may be a good match, see my perspectives on work and life, testimonials from people I’ve worked with, information about the 3 plays I’ve created about life in family business, my advice column, radio show, and my work with the Family Business Center of Pioneer Valley  and the behavioral consulting firm Giombetti Associates.

My work with small business began as a child, in my family’s children’s clothing store in Freeport, Long Island, and continued as an adult, serving as 4th generation owner/president (and tailor). I closed the store after 90 years of operation to move my family to Western Massachusetts, and started the Family Business Center of Pioneer Valley (fka UMass Family Business Center) gathering business families together in a safe and noncommercial learning environment, producing educational dinner forums, confidential roundtables, and customized consulting and facilitation. As I got to be a trusted person to business families, I got pretty good at helping them discuss pressing and difficult topics. I think one of my talents is being an honest broker to family members in business. I am good at “controlling the chaos” and looking out for the interests of the business, the family and all the people involved, creating solid agreements and better understanding. And helping family members in business have fairer and more productive disagreements, arriving at best possible negotiated agreements.

Though there are common themes to many of the problems faced by every family in business, your situation is unique from any other, so my work with you will be customized to assist you with whatever, in particular, is impeding your progress, causing you stress, and limiting what your family can do together to be successful and satisfied.

Whether you’re in the throes of management or ownership succession, the many aspects of estate planning, building a well functioning sibling, cousin, spousal or multigenerational team, trying to turn your safety net into a meritocracy, figuring out how to hear and be heard, feeling your way through a difficult decision, or simply suffering from things being not good enough, I can help.

I am now working with Giombetti Associates, coaching leaders and building team effectiveness, including using their insightful and practical Performance Dynamics assessment. see here for more

To follow up, email me. I am ready, willing and able to help you improve how your family or closely held business achieves profit, success and satisfaction. Or book an appointment with me.

Sincerely,

Ira Bryck

ps: here’s another oldie, from my time at my family’s childrenswear store, the oldest in the US – 1902- 1993 – photo 1977

pps: I am sharing my powerpoint presentation about family business problems and solutions so that members of family businesses and their advisors, and family business educators, might learn about a few ideas they may not have heard of. I have always tried to design slides so you’d get the ideas clearly, or enough to find out more, without me up there explaining it. Ira Bryck family business slides copy