Succession is one of the most written about subjects in family business. It is also one of the most poorly executed. Across generations and geographies, the same patterns repeat: transition plans that stall, timelines that slip, next generation leaders who are technically in post but not truly in charge. Understanding why requires looking honestly at what holds the older generation back. Identity is not a job title you can simply remove For many founders and long serving family business leaders, the business is not something they do. It is who they are. Decades of decision making, of carrying the weight of payroll and reputation and family expectation, do not dissolve the moment a successor is named. When the business is taken away, even voluntarily, what remains can feel disorienting. The question "who am I without this?" is rarely asked out loud, but it sits underneath almost every stalled succession conversation. Until there is a compelling answer to that question, stepping back feels less like freedom and more like loss. Fear dressed up as concern It is easy for the older generation to articulate their hesitation in entirely rational terms. The next generation is not quite ready. The market is too volatile right now. There are a few more things to put in place first. Some of these concerns are genuine. Many are fear in more socially acceptable clothing. Fear that the business they built or inherited and grew will be damaged. Fear of being seen to have made the wrong choice in a successor. Fear, if they are honest, that the next generation might actually do it differently and succeed anyway. That last one is perhaps the most difficult to admit. Control as a form of love In family businesses, the line between protecting the enterprise and protecting the relationship is often blurred. Many senior generation leaders experienced their own difficult transitions, or were never properly handed the reins themselves, and carry that unresolved experience into how they lead and how they let go. Holding on can feel like an act of care. It is a way of saying: I am still here, I still matter, I am still keeping you safe. The problem is that it communicates something very different to the next generation leader waiting in the wings. The governance gap Sometimes the barrier is structural rather than psychological. There is no board with real authority. There is no agreed process for resolving disagreements about the direction of the business. There is no forum in which the transition can be discussed openly without it feeling like a personal confrontation. When governance is weak, succession becomes a conversation that happens around the edges, in corridors and at family dinners, rather than through a process that gives everyone a legitimate voice. That ambiguity tends to favour the status quo, which means it tends to favour the person already in charge. Financial dependence on the business For many older generation leaders, particularly those who have reinvested heavily over the years, the business remains the primary source of financial security. Stepping back is not just an emotional act. It is a financial one. If the structures are not in place to ensure that the senior generation can live well and with dignity outside of active leadership, the reluctance to step back is entirely rational. This is one of the most practical and most overlooked barriers in succession planning. The absence of a next chapter Retirement, in the conventional sense, holds little appeal for most family business leaders. They are not people who have been waiting for the chance to play golf. What they need is not an exit but a transition to something else that carries meaning. Whether that is a non executive role, a philanthropic platform, a mentoring relationship, or a new venture entirely, the move away from operational leadership becomes far more possible when there is something to move towards. The barrier is often not the leaving. It is the not knowing what comes next. When the next generation has not yet earned the confidence This one deserves to be named clearly because it is real. Sometimes the older generation is holding on not out of ego or fear but because the next generation leader has not yet demonstrated, in a way that feels convincing, that they are ready. That might be about experience, or judgment, or the ability to hold the family together under pressure. Readiness is not just a function of time. It has to be earned and it has to be visible. Where that evidence is missing, or where it has never been given the chance to accumulate, the transition stalls. What makes the difference The family businesses that navigate this well tend to share a few things in common. They start the conversation early, before there is urgency. They invest in governance structures that depersonalise difficult decisions. They create genuine roles and recognition for the senior generation outside of operational leadership. And they are honest, sometimes with the help of a trusted external voice, about what is really going on beneath the surface. Succession is not a transaction. It is a process of letting go and growing up, on both sides. The businesses that understand that are the ones that make it to the next generation intact Category succession, leadership, next generation, people matters and insights

GAP Hire Solutions has strengthened its nationwide network with the opening of a brand-new, strategically located Pumps, Power & Environmental (PP&E) depot in Carnforth, enhancing services for customers across the North West. Located at GAP Group Ltd, 6c Keer Park, Carnforth, LA5 9FG, the new depot expands GAP’s ability to support local infrastructure, utilities, construction and environmental projects with a comprehensive range of Pump Services, Power Generation (up to 100kVA), and Environmental Services. This investment reinforces GAP’s commitment to delivering responsive, expert support where customers need it most. The Carnforth depot’s strategic location enables faster mobilisation, reduced downtime, and improved service coverage across the wider region. Richard Broughton, Head of Pump, Power and Environmental Solutions, commented, “The opening of our Carnforth depot is a clear statement of intent. We’re investing in the locations and capabilities that allow us to be genuinely responsive to our customers, getting the right equipment to the right place, faster." "The North West is an important market for us, and this depot puts us in a much stronger position to support the infrastructure and construction projects that are driving growth across the region.”

The world is changing faster than most leadership models were built to handle. For family businesses, that creates both a particular pressure and a particular opportunity. The next generation of family business CEOs will need to bring something that conventional corporate leadership programmes rarely develop: the ability to hold complexity without flinching from it. Owning the long view At the heart of effective family business leadership is a relationship with time that most publicly listed companies simply cannot replicate. The family business CEO of the future will not be managing to a quarterly cycle. They will be thinking in decades, sometimes generations. That means investment decisions, talent decisions, and even values decisions are made against a longer horizon. It is a genuine competitive advantage, but only if the leader at the top has internalised it rather than just inherited it. Bridging family and enterprise One of the most demanding skills in any family business is the ability to move fluently between two very different systems: the family and the business. These operate on different logics. The family runs on loyalty, history, and emotion. The business runs on performance, accountability, and market reality. The CEO of the future will need to hold both without collapsing one into the other. That requires emotional intelligence, yes, but more specifically it requires the capacity to have hard conversations with people they love, to separate role from relationship, and to build governance structures that protect both. Grounded in purpose, fluent in change Family businesses often carry a deep sense of why they exist. That founding purpose is an asset, but it can also become a constraint if it is treated as fixed rather than living. The next generation CEO will know how to honour the spirit of what the founders built while translating it into something that makes sense in a different economic, technological, and social context. That is not a betrayal of legacy. That is what stewardship actually looks like. Building trust across stakeholders The talent, the communities, the customers, and the wider family ownership group all need to feel that the person leading this business is someone they can trust. That trust is not built through charisma alone. It is built through consistency, through transparency, and through a demonstrated willingness to take responsibility when things go wrong. Family businesses often have reputations that span generations. The CEO of the future will understand that theirs to protect, and theirs to extend. Digital and human in equal measure Technology is not optional. The family business CEO of the future will need to be genuinely conversant with digital transformation, AI, and data as strategic tools, not just operational ones. But they will also know that the family business model is fundamentally human. Relationships, trust, and commitment are not things that can be automated. The skill is knowing when to deploy technology and when to lean into the irreducibly personal. Knowing when to lead and when to convene Not every challenge requires a directive from the top. Some of the most important work a family business CEO does is to convene the right people around the right questions and then create the conditions for good decisions to emerge. That takes confidence rather than ego, and a willingness to share credit alongside accountability. The family business CEO of the future is not a superhero archetype. They are someone who has done the inner work, built the relationships, and developed the judgment to lead an institution that means something to a lot of people. That is a profound responsibility. And in the right hands, it is also a remarkable platform.

Aldi Scotland store manager Stevie Clark has launched the nation’s first “Hope Insurance”, a new scheme to help fans survive the rollercoaster of Scotland’s first men’s World Cup in nearly 30 years. The supermarket’s new campaign aims to protect fans against the highs and lows of the tournament and is backed by Aldi Scotland store manager Stevie Clark, who shares his name with the Scotland team gaffer. Aldi’s ‘Hope Insurance’ is believed to be the nation’s first-ever “policy” created to help soften the emotional swings Scotland fans will face during the tournament and takes aim at the Scottish football motto that it’s the “hope that kills you”. In a light-hearted nod to this enduring optimism and the emotional investment fans make every tournament, the initiative will offer rewards whenever Scotland suffers a setback. Hope Insurance is free to register for, with prizes paid out when goals are conceded or matches are lost. However, reinforcing Aldi’s commitment to backing supporters through every twist of the campaign, the biggest reward is reserved for the ultimate high should Scotland defy the odds and progress. New research commissioned by Aldi and conducted by ScotPulse, surveying more than 1,140 Scots, found that optimism is running high, with 77% believing Scotland has a chance of progressing beyond the group stages. This suggests a majority of fans are at risk of early heartbreak within the opening weeks of the competition. Among diehard football fans, optimism is even higher, with 83% believing this could be Scotland’s year to make history. Aldi’s research also highlights the nation’s strong commitment to supporting the team, with 82% of Scots saying they will follow Scotland during the World Cup. Meanwhile, one in six plan to stay up into the early hours to watch matches live. Aldi is the biggest supporter of Scottish food and drink and the nation’s leading supermarket for locally sourced products. In October 2025, it was named in NFU Scotland’s ShelfWatch Mid-Year Report as the most prominent retailer supporting Scottish produce, with 41% of its shelf stock now sourced locally. The launch of Hope Insurance celebrates Aldi’s position as one of Scotland’s most trusted supermarkets for Scottish goods, supporting millions of customers during what is expected to be one of the country’s biggest cultural sporting moments in generations. Stevie Clark, deputy store manager at Aldi Scotland, said: “I’ve had so many customers over the years joking about me sharing the same name as the Scotland manager, and I’m sure that will only ramp up during the World Cup." “Like everyone else at Aldi, I’ve got my fingers crossed for Steve and the team and we really hope the team can deliver the history-making achievement we’ve been waiting for. But as the saying goes, it’s the hope that kills you." “Our first-ever Hope Insurance guarantees lucky fans a little something to smile about if things don’t go our way. We really hope we don’t have to pay out, but like all insurance policies, it’s there just in case.” Regardless of the result, fans can trust that Aldi will bring the nation the great deals on Scottish food and drink. To register for Aldi’s free Hope Insurance, shoppers simply need to email scottishcompetition@aldi.co.uk and share their optimism for Scotland’s World Cup campaign. More details can be found here. Find your nearest Aldi store, here.

Aldi has announced a £5 billion investment in British farming and food production through a series of long-term agreements with UK suppliers. The supermarket said the deals will give farmers and producers greater certainty to invest in their businesses while helping strengthen British food supply chains. The agreements, which typically last at least two years, cover fresh fruit and veg, dairy, meat and eggs, with Aldi aiming to source 50% of its domestic produce through long-term agreements by the end of 2027. The move includes a £1.1 billion commitment to British egg production over the next five years. As part of its push to champion home-grown food, Aldi has also teamed up with farmer and TV personality Harriet Cowan to encourage shoppers to buy more British-grown fruit and vegetables. It comes as new research found many shoppers do not realise vegetables including cucumbers, courgettes and aubergines can all be grown in the UK. The poll of 2,000 adults found that while 80% say supporting British farmers is important to them, only 27% actively consider whether fruit and vegetables are grown in Britain when deciding what to buy.* Harriet Cowan said: “I’m passionate about highlighting the brilliant work British farmers do to bring high-quality food to our tables. I’ve loved teaming up with Aldi to learn more about the fruit and veg we grow here in the UK and to shine a light on what’s in season.” Julie Ashfield, Chief Commercial Officer at Aldi UK, said: “British suppliers are at the heart of our business. These long-term agreements give farmers and producers the confidence to plan ahead, invest in their operations and build resilient supply chains.” Among Aldi’s long-term partnerships is Kent-based grower AC Goatham & Son, its sole supplier of British apples, through a dedicated “Aldi Orchard” supplying stores nationwide. To help shoppers make the most of British produce, Harriet has also picked a series of seasonal recipes, including Creamy Pea and Pesto Pasta Skillet, Pork Tenderloin with Rhubarb Sauce, Beef and Pepper Stir Fry, and Hot Honey Carrots. Recipes are available here. *Research carried out in May 2026 by OnePoll on a sample of 2,000 UK adults.

Barclays’ Q1 2026 Business Prosperity Index reveals that the vast majority of UK businesses (85 per cent) remain confident in the strength of their business, despite 80 per cent reporting a negative impact from the Middle East conflict. Businesses are doubling down on technology investment, with rising AI investment now matched by a sharp increase in cybersecurity spending. Key findings from the Q1 Index show: Geopolitical tensions continue to weigh on sentiment, with one in five (20 per cent) pausing overall investment in light of geopolitical uncertainty. Larger firms have increased longer-term borrowing suggesting their investment. plans remain intact, while SMEs are building further resilience through savings buffers. 68 per cent expect to increase cybersecurity investment over the next 12 months, but almost half (46 per cent) believe the adoption of new technologies is increasing their exposure to cybersecurity risks. Six in 10 (61 per cent) now proactively use agentic AI, with cloud, cyber and AI together accounting for 44 per cent of planned technology budgets over the next year. Firms expect to grow revenues and investment but are split on how to handle rising cost More than four in five UK businesses (81 per cent) expect revenues to increase next quarter and 83 per cent are confident in their prospects over the next year. Looking ahead, more than half (54 per cent) are planning to increase overall investment in the next 12 months. Barclays anonymised client data from around 900,000 UK businesses comparing Q1 2026 to Q1 2025, showed the diverging ways smaller and larger firms are responding to uncertainty. SMEs within Barclays Business Bank saw a modest uptick in cash inflows (+0.2 per cent), continuing to build savings buffers (+1.5 per cent) and cut borrowing (‑13.1 per cent). Larger corporates within Barclays UK Corporate Bank saw a reduction in cash entering (-7.0 per cent) and leaving businesses (-6.1 per cent) as they reduced savings (-5.2 per cent). These larger firms have simultaneously increased longer term borrowing (+6.9 per cent) and reduced shorter-term overdraft borrowing (-11.8 per cent), suggesting future investment plans remain intact. Businesses of all sizes are split on their pricing strategy in response to rising costs, with 37 per cent passing them on to customers and 32 per cent absorbing the impact within margins. Matt Hammerstein, CEO of Barclays UK Corporate Bank, said: “UK businesses are now operating in an environment where uncertainty has become the norm. Geopolitical instability and persistently high costs are feeding directly into cashflows, borrowing decisions and investment plans." “What’s striking, however, is how businesses are responding. Rather than pulling back entirely, many are adapting to this new reality by tightening financial discipline, managing cash carefully and prioritising investment where it strengthens resilience, productivity and long-term competitiveness.” Cyber security becomes boardroom priority Resilience is now a key focus, with recent global turmoil putting cybersecurity at the forefront of many businesses’ priorities, with fewer than three in 10 (29 per cent) confident in their ability to respond to a major cyber incident. In response, almost seven in 10 (68 per cent) are planning to increase their cybersecurity investment over the next 12 months. However, businesses are seeking to find a balance between adoption and exposure. While 82 per cent are confident that their cybersecurity capabilities are keeping pace, almost half (46 per cent) are concerned that these technologies are increasing their exposure to cybersecurity risks. As technologies develop at pace, large businesses are eager to increase their investment, while micro businesses are adapting more slowly. More than one third (36 per cent) of large firms have increased cybersecurity investment since the start of 2026, falling to 26 per cent of smaller businesses and 4 per cent of micro businesses. With additional finance, large firms say they would prioritise further cyber security (24 per cent) alongside AI investment (24 per cent). The average amount decision makers have spent on cybersecurity to date in 2026 is £505,000. This rises significantly to £1.3million for large businesses, but falls to £134,000 for small businesses and £15,000 for micros. Over half of firms now use agentic AI Alongside rising cyber investment, businesses are doubling down on AI and automation to improve efficiency and offset cost pressures. More than half of businesses (52 per cent) believe AI and automation has improved their productivity, with employees now spending less time on administrative tasks (38 per cent), becoming faster at decision-making (34 per cent) and spending more time on higher value work (31 per cent). The way businesses are using AI has evolved too, with six in 10 (61 per cent) now using agentic AI to some extent in their operations. Abdul Qureshi, Head of Barclays Business Banking said: “SMEs are navigating higher costs and ongoing uncertainty, which continues to weigh on day-to-day decisions. While larger firms push ahead with longer-term borrowing, many smaller businesses are focused on building cash buffers and closely managing their financial position. At the same time, AI is starting to present tangible opportunities for SMEs, particularly where it can help improve productivity and make everyday tasks more efficient.” Barclays Business Prosperity Fund To support businesses to invest in resilience and growth, The Barclays Business Prosperity Fund is available for new and existing Business Banking customers and UK Corporate Banking clients across the UK to apply for lending and refinancing on existing projects. Businesses can find out more at: home.barclays/businessprosperity. £22bn is the total amount of lending Barclays has available to lend and support business growth among Business Banking and UK Corporate Banking clients in 2026. Subject to normal lending assessment, status and application. Terms and conditions apply.

One of the world's leading champions of family enterprise has today launched a landmark Pledge that enables family businesses everywhere to publicly affirm the principles that set them apart: stewardship, people, community, integrity, sustainability, heritage and the sharing of knowledge. Family Business United has today launched the Family Business Pledge: a voluntary commitment open to family firms of every size, sector and generation that want to stand together and demonstrate that doing business the right way and doing business successfully are not in conflict. They are one and the same. The Pledge invites family businesses from corner shops to century-old enterprises to publicly commit to seven core principles that reflect the values at the heart of family enterprise. It is free to sign, open to all, and backed by a suite of resources to help signatories share their commitment with the world. Why the Pledge, and Why Now Family businesses are the backbone of the global economy. They employ more people, contribute more to communities and think further into the future than any other form of enterprise. Yet the pressures of short-termism, rapid technological change and globalisation can pull even the most principled business away from what matters most. Family Business United created the Pledge to give family firms a simple, powerful way to reaffirm their identity, stand with their peers and send a clear signal to employees, customers, suppliers and communities that their values are not negotiable. As Paul Andrews, Founder and CEO of Family Business United explains: “Family businesses are the oldest, most enduring form of business in the world. They are built on trust, shaped by values and driven by a desire to create something that lasts." "The Family Business Pledge exists to celebrate that, and to give family firms everywhere a way to say: this is who we are, this is what we believe, and we are proud of it." The Seven Principles of the Pledge By signing the Family Business Pledge, businesses commit to seven principles that reflect the best of family enterprise: Stewardship over short-termism: making decisions with the next generation in mind, prioritising long-term health over short-term profit. People before profit: fostering a people-first culture built on trust, respect and long-term relationships where employees are valued as individuals. Rooted in community: actively investing in the places and people around them, recognising that their success is inseparable from the communities they serve. Governance with integrity: upholding transparent, ethical governance and welcoming accountability at every level. Sustainability for future generations: taking environmental responsibilities seriously, knowing that the world left behind matters as much as the business. Preserving the founder’s spirit: honouring the values, purpose and entrepreneurial drive on which the business was founded through every transition and generation. Sharing knowledge, lifting others: sharing experience and expertise with the wider family business community and mentoring the next wave of family entrepreneurs. Open to Every Family Business, Everywhere The Pledge is deliberately open and inclusive. There is no size threshold, no sector restriction and no accreditation process. Any family business that genuinely subscribes to these principles is invited to sign, free of charge. Every signatory receives a complimentary personalised Certificate of Commitment and a digital badge from Family Business United, together with a campaign pack which gives them everything they need to share their commitment publicly, including a customisable press release, social media banners, a website news story template and other collateral. As Paul adds, “We want this Pledge to become a movement. We want family businesses in every town, every sector and every country to be able to point to it and say: we signed this because it reflects who we are." "The more businesses that join us, the louder and clearer that message becomes for the whole world to hear.” A Community United by Shared Values The launch of the Family Business Pledge marks a new chapter in Family Business United’s mission to champion, support and connect family businesses at every stage of their journey. It is the culmination of years of listening to family firms talk about what makes them different, what they stand for and what they want the world to understand about the way they do business. Family Business United will use its platform, network, events and media reach to promote signatories, share their stories and build a growing community of businesses that are proud to be family firms and proud to show it. As Paul concludes: “Signing the Pledge is not about ticking a box. It is about making a statement. It is about saying to your customers, your team, your community and the next generation of your family: these values are not just words on a wall. They are the way we run our business every single day.”

There is a question that sits at the heart of every family business succession, usually unasked and often unexamined: is joining the family firm a gift, or is it a weight? For the generation that built or grew the business, the answer feels obvious. Of course it is a privilege. Of course the next generation should want to be part of it. And yet, for many of the young men and women sitting across from that assumption, the experience is considerably more complicated. This is not a criticism of either side. It is simply the reality of what happens when love, expectation, and commercial enterprise share the same space. The Weight Of What Came Before Walking into a business that bears your family's name, where the receptionist knew you as a child, where the boardroom portraits include your grandparents, is an experience unlike any other start to a career. The history is everywhere. So is the expectation. So, often, is the comparison. Next-generation family members frequently describe a particular kind of pressure that their peers in other careers simply do not encounter: the sense that they are representing not just themselves, but everyone who came before them. Every mistake carries extra weight. Every success is questioned — was it really theirs, or did the family name do the work? And the question of whether they would have chosen this path freely, without the family dimension, is one they may never feel fully entitled to ask. None of this makes the family business a bad place to build a career. For many, it is the most meaningful thing they have ever done. But it does mean that the transition needs to be handled with considerably more care than the older generation sometimes realises. Giving The Next Generation Room To Arrive The families that manage succession most successfully tend to share a common approach: they give the next generation genuine room to make the role their own. They do not simply install the incoming leader in the existing seat with the expectation that everything will continue as before. They create space for new ideas, for different ways of leading, for the fresh perspective that someone who has grown up watching the business from the outside, and perhaps worked elsewhere first, genuinely brings. This is harder than it sounds. It requires the outgoing generation to resist the very natural impulse to protect what they have built by controlling how it develops. It requires trust — not just in the individual, but in the process of renewal itself. The firms that have not found that trust are disproportionately represented in the statistics about businesses that fail to make it past the third generation. When Joining Is The Wrong Decision There is another conversation that family businesses rarely have openly, but probably should: the one about what happens when the next generation does not actually want to join, or should not. Not every family member has the skills, the temperament, or the genuine desire to run a business. Bringing someone in out of obligation, or allowing them to join because the family expects it, rarely ends well — for the individual, for the business, or for the family relationships that depend on both. The most forward-thinking family businesses have found ways to make this conversation safe to have. They separate, clearly and kindly, the question of family membership from the question of business involvement. Being part of the family is unconditional. Having a role in the business is something different — it requires the right fit, the right preparation, and, above all, a genuine choice. Legacy As Invitation, Not Obligation The families that get this right tend to think of legacy not as something imposed on the next generation, but as something offered to them. Here is what we have built. Here is what it stands for. Here is what it could become. Do you want to be part of that? When the next generation joins because they genuinely want to, because they see something worth building on and feel free to make it their own, the energy they bring is transformative. When they join because they felt they had no choice, the cost is eventually paid by everyone. The distinction matters more than almost anything else in the long-term health of a family business.

There is a particular kind of meeting that most family business leaders will recognise, even if they have never sat in a boardroom to have it. It is the meeting where a business decision and a family dynamic arrive at the same table at the same time, and nobody is quite sure which one is driving the conversation. Should the founder's eldest child take the managing director role, or is there a stronger external candidate? Should the business carry a family member whose performance has been a source of quiet concern for longer than anyone wants to admit? Should a significant investment be made that one branch of the family supports and another does not? These are not straightforward business questions. They are business questions wrapped around family relationships, personal histories, and emotional stakes that no financial model can fully capture. And they are, for many family businesses, among the most difficult decisions they will ever face. A well-constituted board does not make these decisions easier in the sense of making them less weighty. What it does is create the conditions in which they can be made well, with rigour, with fairness, and with a degree of separation between the family dynamics and the business logic that is almost impossible to achieve without some form of independent structure. The Limits Of Family Consensus Family businesses are often rightly proud of their ability to make decisions quickly and collaboratively. The absence of corporate bureaucracy, the alignment of ownership and management, the shared values that mean everyone is broadly pulling in the same direction and these are genuine advantages, and they should not be designed away in the name of governance for its own sake. But family consensus has limits, and those limits tend to become most apparent precisely when the decisions are most consequential. When everyone around the table has a personal stake in the outcome, financial, emotional, or relational, the quality of the decision-making process is vulnerable in ways that are not always obvious from the inside. Uncomfortable truths go unsaid. Difficult options are not fully explored. The desire to preserve harmony, or to avoid reopening old wounds, quietly shapes the conclusions before the conversation has properly begun. This is not a failure of character or intent. It is simply the nature of family dynamics. The same closeness that makes family businesses distinctive also makes genuine objectivity, in certain situations, genuinely hard to achieve. Acknowledging this is not a criticism of the family. It is an honest assessment of the conditions in which good decisions are hardest to make and a recognition that those conditions call for a different kind of support. What A Board Actually Brings The word governance makes some family business leaders reach for the off switch. It conjures images of corporate formality, of tick-box compliance exercises, of adding cost and complexity to a business that has always prided itself on being lean and direct. This reaction is understandable, but it tends to conflate governance with bureaucracy and the two are not the same thing. A board, at its best, is not an administrative burden. It is a decision-making asset. It brings perspectives that the family, however capable, cannot generate from within, experience of different industries and business models, exposure to challenges that the family has not yet encountered, the kind of detached objectivity that only comes from not having grown up in the business or around the table at family dinners. Independent non-executive directors, in particular, can offer something that is genuinely rare in a family business context: the freedom to say what needs to be said without fear of damaging a relationship that predates the company itself. This is not about undermining family authority or importing a corporate culture that is at odds with the family's values. A well-structured family business board works in service of the family's vision, not in opposition to it. Its role is to strengthen the decision-making process, not to replace the family's judgement with someone else's. The best independent directors understand this distinction instinctively, and they bring their challenge and their counsel in ways that build trust rather than create friction. The Specific Value Of Independent Voices In the context of the decisions where family and business most acutely collide, independent board members earn their place many times over. Consider the question of a family member's performance. This is one of the most reliably difficult conversations in any family business, one that, left unaddressed, can damage both the business and the family relationship far more than an honest, well-handled conversation ever would. An independent board member can raise the issue in a way that separates it from personal criticism, frame it in terms of the business's needs and standards rather than individual failing, and support both the family and the individual through a process that might otherwise become entrenched and destructive. Consider succession. The question of who should lead the business into its next chapter is one of the most consequential a family will ever face, and it is one where the risk of the decision being shaped by family dynamics rather than business logic is highest. A board with independent members can ensure that the process is rigorous, that all candidates, family and non-family, are assessed against the same criteria, that the decision is made on the basis of what the business needs rather than what any individual branch of the family prefers, and that the outcome has a legitimacy that the wider organisation can get behind. Consider also the moments of acute family tension — a dispute between siblings, a disagreement between generations about the direction of the business, a breakdown in communication that is beginning to affect the organisation beyond the family itself. An independent board does not resolve these issues directly, but it provides a structure within which they can be addressed with the seriousness and objectivity they require, and a framework of accountability that keeps the business functioning while the family works through what needs to be worked through. Building A Board That Works For Your Business Not every family business needs a full formal board with multiple independent directors, audit committees, and quarterly reporting cycles. The right governance structure is one that is proportionate to the scale and complexity of the business, and that genuinely serves the family's needs rather than simply satisfying an external expectation of what good governance should look like. For many family businesses, the most valuable starting point is a single trusted independent adviser, someone with relevant experience, genuine credibility, and the interpersonal skills to build relationships across the family while maintaining the objectivity that makes their input valuable. This might be a non-executive chair, a formal non-executive director, or an advisory board member whose role is less formally constituted but no less genuinely useful. What matters more than the structure is the quality of the people involved and the seriousness with which the family engages with the process. An independent director who is treated as a rubber stamp, who is given incomplete information, or whose challenge is consistently deflected, adds nothing. One who is genuinely brought into the confidence of the business, trusted with the difficult questions, and empowered to say what needs to be said, that person can be transformative. The Family Business That Governs Well, Endures The families who invest in governance, who build boards that bring genuine independence and challenge, who create structures that can hold the weight of difficult decisions, are not doing so because they distrust each other or because they have run out of their own ideas. They are doing so because they understand something important: that the decisions which matter most to the long-term health of the business are precisely the ones that are hardest to make well from within the family alone. A board does not replace the family's authority or dilute its ownership. It strengthens both by ensuring that the decisions made in the family's name are made with the rigour, the fairness, and the independence that the business deserves, and that the next generation inherits not just a business but a decision-making culture worthy of building on. When family and business collide, and they will, having the right structure around the table is not a luxury. It is one of the most valuable investments a family business can make.

F.Hinds is celebrating its 170th anniversary with the launch of a new brand campaign centred around reassurance, trust and customer confidence. The independent family jeweller, which was founded in Paddington in 1856 and now operates 132 F.Hinds and Chapelle stores across the UK, is using the milestone to reinforce its heritage as something customers actively benefit from today. Built around the line, “Giving Confidence”, the campaign recognises that jewellery purchases are often emotionally and financially meaningful, and positions F.Hinds’ 170 years of expertise as providing reassurance customers can rely on, whether they are buying for themselves, gifting or caring for jewellery over time. The campaign messaging highlights the role of expert guidance, fair value and ongoing customer support before, during and after purchase, helping customers feel confident not only in the piece they choose, but in the moment they are celebrating. Creative executions feature authentic customer reactions including “It’s perfect”, “I’ll wear it forever” and “You know me so well”, each paired with the line, “170 years of giving confidence”. Time-spanning imagery has also been incorporated throughout to demonstrate how F.Hinds has supported generations of customers through milestone moments over nearly two centuries. The campaign is rolling out across in-store point-of-sale, window displays, digital channels, social media and CRM activity, with a consistent message throughout: that F.Hinds’ heritage is not simply a legacy to celebrate, but an ongoing benefit to customers today. Andrew Hinds, Chairman of F.Hinds, said: “Reaching 170 years in business is an incredible milestone for our family and for everyone across F.Hinds. While we’re proud of our heritage, this campaign is really about what that history means for our customers today." "Jewellery is often purchased to mark life’s most meaningful moments, and that brings pressure to make the right choice. We want to reflect the expertise and ongoing care that mean customers have been able to trust us across generations." "‘Giving Confidence’ perfectly captures what we strive to provide every day - helping customers feel confident in the pieces they choose and the moments they are celebrating.” Founded in 1856, F.Hinds is one of the UK’s leading jewellers, but remains an independent family business, recognised with multiple industry accolades including “Retailer of the Year” at the UK Jewellery Awards 2023 and “Retail Family Business of the Year” at the Family Business Awards 2023. About F.Hinds: Established in London in 1856, F.Hinds has grown from humble beginnings into one of the UK’s leading jewellers while remaining an independent family business, now with 133 F.Hinds and Chapelle stores across England, Scotland and Wales. As the business celebrates 170 years on the British high street, F.Hinds continues to build on generations of expertise, trust and customer care, proudly marking the milestone with its “170 years of giving confidence” campaign. Built around the reassurance customers feel when making meaningful jewellery purchases, the campaign reflects F.Hinds’ long-standing commitment to helping customers buy, gift and care for jewellery with confidence through expert guidance, fair value and ongoing support. F.Hinds has received multiple industry accolades, including the unique “Outstanding Contribution to the Industry” award in 2022 and “Retailer of the Year” in 2023, both at the UK Jewellery Awards, as well as “Retail Family Business of the Year” in 2023. The company has been voted “Multiple Fashion Jewellery Retailer of the Year” on a further two occasions. Offering a wide selection of jewellery, watches and gifts for every occasion, F.Hinds also provides a comprehensive range of specialist services including jewellery and watch repairs, a made-to-measure design service, valuations, engraving, lifetime watch battery replacements, insurance replacement and Gold for Cash or trade in. In 2019, the business welcomed the UK’s leading outlet retailer Chapelle into the F.Hinds family, offering customers top international watch and jewellery brands at discounted prices. Committed to maintaining high ethical and environmental standards, F.Hinds is a certified member of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) and is the longest standing retail member of the National Association of Jewellers (NAJ). F Hinds promotes sustainability through jewellery repairs, a watch recycling scheme, a free watch cell takeback service and a long established recycled packaging option. For information about F.Hinds’ interesting history visit here.

Over the years we have gained plenty of insight into what makes family businesses successful and are often asked what family firms do in order to be sustainable across multiple generations. Essentially there are some common traits that can be identified, and of course, there needs to be a degree of luck along the way to ensure the business remains relevant and successfully addresses the challenges that they will have definitely encountered along the way. We have identified 12 pillars that reflect the general traits of successful family firms which are outlined below. The pillars are sequenced deliberately, from the most foundational (purpose and values) through the operational and relational, to the financial and cultural, and closing with the two that carry the most emotional weight: stories and legacy. The sequence tells its own story. Each pillar is genuinely distinct, there is no overlap or repetition between them, which means the twelve together form a complete picture rather than twelve variations on the same idea. The final pillar, "leave it better than they found it" is intentionally the shortest in description, because by that point in the list it needs no elaboration. It is the standard that everything else is in service of. 1 - They know what the business is for They have a clear, shared answer to the question of purpose, one that goes beyond profit to encompass the values, the obligations, and the vision that define the enterprise. Every major decision is tested against it. 2 - They hold the values constant while changing everything else Products, processes, business models, and technologies evolve with the times. The values, how the business treats people, what it stands for, where the line is, never move. That combination of adaptability and rootedness is the engine of longevity. 3 - They have the conversations others avoid Succession, performance, fairness, money, conflict can be difficult topics to address. The families that endure are those that bring the difficult conversations into the room rather than letting them fester and go unsaid. Honesty, practised consistently, is a form of structural resilience. 4 - They develop each generation to lead, not just to inherit Outside experience, genuine accountability, honest feedback, and a clearly defined development path are the conditions that produce next-generation leaders who have earned their authority rather than simply assumed it. 5 - They invest in governance before they need it Effective boards, functioning family councils, robust shareholders’ agreements, built in good times, when there is goodwill and space to think clearly. The families that wait for a crisis to force governance investment pay a far higher price for the same capability. 6 - They plan succession a decade before it is needed The succession that is planned early, with time to develop the successor, structure the ownership transfer, and prepare the organisation, is a fundamentally different event from the succession forced by a health crisis or a family conflict. Start earlier than feels necessary. 7 - They stay genuinely curious about what is changing Markets shift, technologies disrupt, and customer expectations evolve. The businesses that last are those that maintain a genuine openness to what is happening at the edges of their industry, not defensive insularity, but informed, active watchfulness. 8 - They treat people, all people, with genuine respect Employees, suppliers, customers, community members. The family businesses that last are known for it, not as a marketing position but as a lived practice, visible in the decisions made when treating people well was the more costly option. 9 - They remain genuinely connected to their communities The goodwill of a community, built over generations of honest dealing, fair employment, and genuine contribution, is a form of capital that appears on no balance sheet but provides real resilience when conditions change. It is earned slowly and lost quickly. 10 - They manage money with stewardship, not extraction Patient reinvestment over short-term extraction. Conservative leverage that preserves resilience. Dividend policies that are fair to all shareholders. Financial decisions made in the light of what the next generation will inherit, not just what the current generation can take. 11 - They know their stories and keep them alive The decisions that defined the business, the crises that were survived, the people who gave their working lives to the enterprise, these stories are the primary carriers of culture and values across generations. The businesses that tell them, retell them, and live up to them are the ones that last. 12 - They leave it better than they found it Not just financially but commercially stronger, culturally richer, relationally deeper, and more worthy of the community that depends on it. Each generation that meets this standard gives the next generation a platform that is genuinely worth building on. That is the dynasty.

Stuart Dantzic, Managing Director of Caribbean, welcomes the Climate Change Committee’s latest adaptation report, arguing that external shading and passive cooling must become central to the UK’s response to rising overheating risk. The Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) latest report, A Well-Adapted UK, should finally put to bed the outdated idea that overheating is only a matter of comfort. It is a national resilience issue, a public health issue and an energy issue all rolled into one. For years, the UK’s built environment has been designed around retaining heat, which made sense in cooler periods. But as the report clearly states, the climate we are living in today is not the one our homes, schools, hospitals and workplaces were originally built for. Hotter summers, more frequent heatwaves and prolonged periods of extreme temperatures are becoming the rule, not the exception. As temperatures continue to rise, reducing heat gain before it enters buildings must become a fundamental principle of building design. Just as we would not heat a home in winter without insulation, we should not cool one in summer without shading. The CCC’s findings reflect this reality and, importantly, acknowledge something our sector has long understood: the smartest and most effective way to cool buildings is to stop heat getting inside in the first place. External shading is vital for overheating adaptation and must now become a standard part of climate-resilient building design. The report’s support for passive cooling measures should therefore be strongly welcomed. One of the most striking conclusions is that external shading in hospitals can reduce temperatures by up to 4°C on peak heat days. That is not a marginal improvement; in healthcare settings, where vulnerable patients are already at risk from extreme heat, those reductions can have very real consequences for wellbeing and safety. There is much talk of air conditioning being the answer to climate change and undoubtedly it has a role in certain environments, such as hospitals, care settings and other high-risk buildings. But cooling buildings mechanically without first addressing solar gain is fundamentally the wrong approach and it cannot become the default answer to every overheating challenge. Passive cooling should be prioritised in all buildings, with active cooling introduced only during prolonged or intense heatwaves. This reflects the cooling hierarchy adopted within the London Plan and increasingly referenced by local authorities and industry guidance. Why? Because if we rely solely on mechanical cooling, we risk creating a cycle where rising temperatures drive higher energy demand, increased emissions and greater pressure on the grid. External shading must always come first because it lowers indoor temperatures before heat enters the building, significantly reducing any later requirement for mechanical cooling. That is a far more sustainable, cost-effective and resilient route. BBSA research, previously cited by the CCC and referenced within the Government’s Warm Homes Plan, found that external shading can reduce indoor operative temperatures (the temperature we feel) by up to 18°C. By preventing heat build-up at source, external shading can significantly reduce reliance on air conditioning, lowering energy demand, cutting carbon emissions and, in many applications, eliminating the need for mechanical cooling altogether when combined with ventilation and thermal mass. This is becoming increasingly important as modern architecture continues to favour larger areas of glazing, sliding doors and open-plan living. While these designs maximise daylight and connect interiors with outdoor spaces, they also increase overheating risk dramatically if solar control is not properly considered. Flexibility is also key because solar conditions constantly change throughout the day and across seasons, which is why adjustable, dynamic shading solutions are essential. This is not new technology. Solar shading has been used for centuries in architecture designed for warmer climates and has long formed part of prestigious buildings and major public architecture, including Buckingham Palace. Yet despite rising temperatures and increasingly frequent heatwaves, it remains significantly underutilised across the UK built environment. The CCC is right to highlight that most of the homes standing in 2050 have already been built, which means adaptation is now immediate. Retrofitting existing buildings with effective passive cooling measures will be essential if we are serious about creating climate-resilient communities. Lord Krebs, former Chair of the CCC Adaptation Sub-Committee, previously stated: “We are not designing buildings for preventing overheating. Shading – shutters or awnings – is not costly or difficult to install, it’s just that we’re not doing it.” What is particularly encouraging is that the conversation is finally shifting. Overheating is no longer being treated as an occasional inconvenience during a hot spell. Instead, it is now recognised as a long-term infrastructure challenge requiring strategic action. The CCC’s report is an important step forward because it recognises that resilience starts with smarter design, not more energy consumption. External shading may once have been viewed as an optional add-on, but that position is no longer tenable in a warming climate. Today, it must be seen as essential climate adaptation infrastructure and a fundamental part of how we design, retrofit and futureproof buildings across the UK. For more information on Caribbean and its range of shading products visit here.