Mary Novello

In a recent conversation I had with a business owner, she revealed, “I know that I’m about 10 years away from transitioning ownership and that I should be planning that transition. I have some ideas about how I would like that to happen. But the challenges seem so overwhelming, I’m stuck. I don’t know where to start.”

Some family businesses begin with a group of siblings — West Michigan’s own Irwin Seating Co., for example. For many others, siblings make up the second generation of leadership.