Stephen works privately with family businesses to navigate succession, resolve generational tension, and build alignment between the people who matter most - before small fractures become irreparable divides.
The Problem
Most consultants will audit your operations, optimise your processes, and restructure your org chart.
But they won't sit at the kitchen table and help a father tell his daughter she's not ready to lead - or help a son explain to his parents that the business needs to change.
Stephen does both.
How Stephen Works
Most families don't know exactly where the gaps are until someone helps them look. These engagements give you an honest picture before committing to anything bigger.
A single structured session with one generation. An honest diagnostic of where things stand, what's working, and what needs attention. About a third of families who do a Deep Dive go on to something more substantial - because seeing the picture clearly is usually enough to make the next step obvious.
Both generations are involved - but not in the same room at the same time, at least not at first. Stephen meets them jointly, then each separately, then brings the findings back together. The structure is deliberate: the conversations that happen in private are usually the ones that matter most. The output is a written findings note and a clear recommendation on what comes next.
For families who know the work needs to happen and are ready to commit to it.
The flagship engagement. A facilitated workshop followed by 12 months of structured coaching - one session a month - working through the succession plan, leadership development, communication, and the decisions that need to be made before they become urgent.
A structured look at how the business actually makes decisions, what governance structures exist, and what's missing. Includes individual stakeholder interviews, document review, and a written report with prioritised recommendations. Often the entry point for more established businesses who need to understand what they have before deciding what to fix.
Usually follows a Governance Review. Through a series of facilitated sessions, the family works through the questions that matter most - who can join the business, who makes which decisions, what happens if someone wants out, how disputes get resolved - and commits the answers to a signed document. The best time to write these rules is before you need them.
Some situations can't wait for a structured programme. These engagements are for families facing something specific, time-sensitive, or genuinely difficult.
Active tension between family members - a founder who won't let go, two successors competing for one role, a family member whose behaviour is damaging the business and nobody will address it directly. The process always starts with private sessions separately with each party. What people say privately is almost never what they say in the room, and the resolution depends on understanding both. The process ends with a written Dispute Resolution Protocol - an agreed framework for how future conflicts get handled before they escalate.
When an unexpected event forces a handover that wasn't planned. Phase 1 is a rapid assessment and a written 90-Day Emergency Succession Plan, delivered in the first two weeks. Phase 2 is ongoing monthly advisory support while the transition stabilises. In a crisis, the worst outcome is paralysis - this engagement is designed to prevent it.
When the family has decided to sell, the corporate finance advisors and solicitors manage the transaction. Stephen manages the family dynamics that could derail it - the family member who doesn't really want to sell, the identity crisis that hits when the reality becomes concrete, the sibling disagreement that surfaces at the wrong moment. If you're a professional advisor working with a family on a transaction, this is the missing piece of the advisory team.
The families who get the most from working with Stephen are the ones who stay in the conversation. These engagements are for families who want consistent, independent input over time.
A monthly advisory call plus ongoing access by phone and email. The value isn't the call - it's having someone who already knows your family's situation and doesn't need to be briefed from scratch every time. Usually starts at the end of a project engagement when the family doesn't want to lose the relationship.
An independent voice at the board table who isn't family and isn't on the payroll. Four meetings a year plus ad hoc availability between them. Stephen understands the dynamics that are invisible to a commercially-focused board member - the unspoken hierarchies, the deference that passes for agreement, the conversations that aren't happening.
Using psychometric assessment across 30 personality facets, Stephen profiles individual family members and leadership teams to build a shared understanding of how each person leads, communicates, and makes decisions. Can be used at any stage - as the foundation for coaching work, as part of a governance process, or simply as a way to help a team that knows each other well finally understand each other properly.
What People Say
"I think he's a lovely boy…"
Marie Shortt
Stephen's Mum
Book A Call
A call is a confidential, no-obligation conversation about where your family business is today and where you want it to be. Stephen will listen, ask the right questions, and let you know honestly whether he can help.