trust

In the US, if you are a wealthy individual, you would not walk across the road without taking your lawyer, tax advisor, accountant and therapist with you. The wealthy Asian individual, however, will walk across the road on his/her own writes Christian Stewart.

Asia has a different culture in terms of the use of external professional advisors, and this has some impact on the succession process. For example, most Asian families do not have a family shareholders agreement or "exit plan".    

Andrew Keyt is president of the US chapter of FBN International and executive director of the Loyola University Chicago Family Business Centre. Joe Astrachan is a research fellow at Loyola University Chicago.

A unified family business depends on good communication and a solid foundation of trust. Andrew Keyt and Joe Astrachan say the secret to good management and visionary leadership rests with making satisfying face-to-face human contact on a regular basis