Come to a dinner forum of the UMass Family Business Center
Call Ira Bryck, center director at (413) 545-4545 to get more information, discuss your situation, and commit to an evening that will expand your thinking (and your waistline)!
MAY 1, 2013 •WEDNESDAY 9:00-11:00 AM
MASS SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER, SCIBELLI ENTERPRISE CENTER AT STCC, SPRINGFIELD, MASS
A PRACTICAL, THERAPEUTIC, HANDS-ON CONVERSATION, TO HELP YOUR FAMILY BUSINESS WORK FOR YOU
Working with family can be tremendously rewarding, adding great competitive advantage; or continuously irritating, reducing prosperity, satisfaction, and any desire to show up for work. For the lucky few, doing it right comes easy- but for most, family business success takes structure, conscientiousness, right priorities and intentions. This session will explore how to best govern, communicate, decide, and strategize when you're working with the ones you love.
Ira Bryck is Director of the UMass Family Business Center, which provides a non-commercial, interactive learning community for business families in Western New England. Ira is also the author of 3 plays about family business, a family business advice column, and blog about (you guessed it!) family business, and life.
REGISTER BY CONTACTING DIANE RANDALL at 413 737 6712 or drandall@msbdc.umass.edu
JUNE 18, 2013 •TUESDAY 5:00-8:30 PM
LOG CABIN BANQUET AND MEETING HOUSE, HOLYOKE, MASS
HOW SEVERAL LOCAL COMPANIES ARE MAKING THEIR WORKPLACES FEEL FUN AND MEANINGFUL, DESPITE CHALLENGING TIMES
After 5 or so years of very difficult economic challenges, some local companies are continuing to struggle, and others are doing better, or even breaking records. But all along the spectrum, many are reporting that it's not as much fun as it used to be. Or a grind, feeling less meaningful and fulfilling that ever. This session will present 8 local business owners, each talking about how they've succeeded in creating or maintaining a work environment that where people are enjoying themselves and feeling gratified about their work. (as of April 26, we are accepting suggestions and volunteers for owners who would like to present- contact Ira Bryck at 413 545 4545 or Ira@UMassFBC.com to discuss)
IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO, SO HOW ARE YOU CONTRIBUTING TO THOSE AWKWARD RELATIONSHIP MISSTEPS? It would be great if you saw the world accurately, and understood how the misunderstandings with co-workers, friends and family were THEIR doing, and you were in the clear. But instead, you (and all of us) often don’t understand our own contributions that make our interactions tense, awkward and/or worse. We often don’t get why we didn’t land that job, or get that promotion, or achieve that second date. Is it possible that if we could change our presence, we could change our world? CARLYN SALTMAN, of Video Feedback Coaching, can help you observe and reflect more keenly, to recognize your strengths and qualities, and develop your emotional and social intelligence, resulting in more productive interaction with those at work and home; and accelerate your preparation for interviews, presentations and difficult conversations. Carlyn is trained and certified as a Psychosynthesis coach, and is a lifetime member of the Relationship Coaching Institute. Also, she’s good at this. This presentation will include a discussion with two members of the UMass Family Business Center who Carlyn worked with, as examples to illustrate Video Mirror Feedback®, the online communication coaching method she developed.
EXPERT ADVICE AND PERSPECTIVE that will help you in your business, presented by MEYERS BROTHER KALICKA, PC a corporate partner of the UMass Family Business Center. Topic to be determined, but it will be relevant to you and your company.
SEPTEMBER 24 , 2013 •TUESDAY 5:00-8:30 PM
LOG CABIN BANQUET AND MEETING HOUSE, HOLYOKE, MASS
AHEAD OF THEIR TIME FOR FIVE GENERATIONS
If you’re a true child of the 60’s or 70’s, you should remember a major icon of that era: Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap. With unmistakable scents of mint, lavender or almond, it was (and is) the soap that cleans your body, teeth, car, or everything else. The product was/is instantly recognizable: with Dr. Emanuel Bronner’s urgent message to realize our transcendent unity across religious and ethnic divides, in tiny type, on every inch of the bottle. The soaps are synonymous with Old-World quality and time-honored simplicity, which can be traced back to the family’s German-Jewish soapmaking tradition. Born in 1908 to a Jewish family that had been making soap since 1858, Emanuel Bronner was the third generation certified as a master-soapmaker under the guild system of the time. In 1929, he brought his formulas for high-quality liquid and bar soaps to America, starting Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps in its current form in 1948. The 4th and 5th generations of the Bronner family who run the company today continue to make to these unsurpassed soaps with care and integrity.
We are pleased to present Dr. Bronner’s grandson, MICHAEL BRONNER, who is VP of the company, running it with his brother, David, and mother, Trudy. Come hear Michael discuss the family and company history, including his grandfather’s departure from pre-Nazi Germany, navigating the brand’s cult status, their ongoing struggle to make the industry and government regulatory agencies raise the bar on standards for organic, Fair Trade, progressive and sustainable practices, and genetically modified organisms (GMO); and leading the way with improving life for their growers and suppliers, and their support of many meaningful charitable causes. You will enjoy learning how this renowned company continues to develop and thrive – it is still the top selling natural soap in the US (1000% growth over the last 12 years), long after the Age of Aquarius has ended.
EXPERT ADVICE AND PERSPECTIVE that will help you in your business, presented by BULKLEY RICHARDSON a corporate partner of the UMass Family Business Center. Topic to be determined, but it will be relevant to you and your company.
OCTOBER 22, 2013 • TUESDAY, 5:00-8:30 PM
LOG CABIN BANQUET AND MEETING HOUSE, HOLYOKE, MASS
FIFTEEN WESTERN MASS BUSINESS OWNERS SHARE THEIR HIGHEST WISDOM
There's nothing that compares to the brilliant lessons learned from real, live business owners, whether epiphanies learned from generations of success, or an understanding learned from surviving their own Labors of Hercules. Each of 15 business owners will get 5 minutes to transmit to you what they learned, how they learned it, and how you can benefit from their dark night or the soul or light at the end of the tunnel. More specifics to follow.
EXPERT ADVICE AND PERSPECTIVE that will help you in your business, presented by EPSTEIN FINANCIAL GROUP a corporate partner of the UMass Family Business Center. Topic to be determined, but it will be relevant to you and your company.
DECEMBER 10, 2013 • TUESDAY, 5:00-8:30 PM
CLARION HOTEL AND CONFERENCE CENTER, NORTHAMPTON, MASS
MOST PEOPLE WHO NEED A TURNAROUND SPECIALIST DON'T REALIZE IT TILL IT'S TOO LATE As a stereotype, entrepreneurial types are optimistic, big picture people. They prefer to not wallow in financials, and live in hope more than despair, except maybe at 3 am, every so often. And the business was built, piece by piece, from the ground up, more concerned with getting the order out than cash flow; and making this week's payroll than building sustainability for ten years hence. Enter David and Jeff Sands (father and son), who claim they can walk into a company, close their eyes, and hear whether your business is humming along or clunking towards a terrible breakdown. By the time they are called in, it's often almost too late: the business is in the "zone of insolvency." They wish they''d been summoned earlier, when they could help that company restructure and live another hundred years. Tonight's talk will summon them to tell you what you need to do, to turn around when it's not a hairpin turn near a steep cliff. They have war stories galore, answers to your questions, methods to assess where you're at, other methods to get you to where you need to be. They are charming, but truth tellers. They've been there, and will help you not end up there. If you think you and your company could not benefit mightily from what they want to tell you, good luck!
Hear David Sands interviewed by Ira Bryck at http://www.umass.edu/fambiz/resources/podcasts.html
EXPERT ADVICE AND PERSPECTIVE that will help you in your business, presented by HEALTH NEW ENGLAND, a corporate partner of the UMass Family Business Center. Topic to be determined, but it will be relevant to you and your company.
Archive of past UMass Amherst Family Business Center dinner forum
TRY IT- YOU'LL LIKE IT !!
ASK ABOUT OUR TRIAL RUN OFFER
or come as the guest of a member company or corporate partner
For more information, or to register, call Ira Bryck at (413) 545-4545 or email Ira Bryck
