Add to my list
Videos

IVAN LANSBERG

World-renowned pioneer in family enterprise, succession, governance, and building businesses that endure across generations

  • One of the world’s foremost authorities on family enterprise governance, succession, and continuity
  • Adjunct Professor and Academic Director at Kellogg’s John L. Ward Center for Family Enterprises
  • Co-founder of the Family Firm Institute and founding editor of Family Business Review
  • Trusted advisor to leading business families across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East
  • Author of landmark family-business books including Succeeding Generations and The Enduring Enterprise

Ivan Lansberg is one of the world’s pioneering thinkers and advisors on family enterprise, succession, governance, and continuity. An organizational psychologist, he is Founding Partner of Lansberg Gersick Advisors (LGA) and Adjunct Professor and Academic Director at the John L. Ward Center for Family Enterprises at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Born into an entrepreneurial family in Venezuela, Lansberg has spent more than four decades studying and advising complex business-owning families around the world. His work explores one of the most consequential challenges facing family enterprises: how to preserve entrepreneurial energy, family cohesion, effective governance, and a shared sense of purpose as ownership passes from one generation to the next.

Lansberg was one of the founders of the Family Firm Institute and the first editor of Family Business Review. Before entering consulting, he taught at Columbia Business School and served for seven years as Professor of Organizational Behavior at Yale.

He holds B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University and has written extensively for academic and business publications, including Harvard Business Review.

His most recent book, The Enduring Enterprise: How Family Businesses Thrive in Turbulent Conditions, co-authored with Devin DeCiantis, examines what resilient family enterprises operating in some of the world’s most challenging environments can teach leaders about navigating uncertainty, disruption, and long-term survival.

Iván tailors each presentation to the needs of his audience and is not limited to the topics listed below. Please ask us about any subject that interests you:

  • Family Business Governance and Continuity
  • Leadership and Generational Succession
  • Preparing the Next Generation
  • Building Resilient and Enduring Enterprises
  • Family Ownership and Responsible Shareholders
  • Family Purpose, Values, and Legacy
  • Governance in Complex Business Families
  • Leading Through Uncertainty and Turbulence

Ivan Lansberg helps business families transform succession from a moment of uncertainty into a disciplined process for building continuity across generations. His programs combine psychology, governance, leadership, and decades of experience advising some of the world’s most complex family enterprises. Above all, he shows how families can preserve their entrepreneurial legacy while developing the people, institutions, and resilience required to thrive in an unpredictable future.

The Enduring Enterprise: How Family Businesses Thrive in Turbulent Conditions

Why do some family enterprises survive—and even thrive—through political instability, economic crises, market failures, and profound uncertainty? Drawing from decades of research and advisory experience and his latest book, The Enduring Enterprise, Lansberg explores the strategies that enable family businesses to build resilience in turbulent environments. He reveals how long-term thinking, trusted relationships, adaptability, redundancy, and strong family institutions can transform uncertainty into competitive advantage. The lessons extend far beyond family companies, offering any organization a powerful framework for becoming more resilient in an increasingly unpredictable world.

Succeeding Generations

Building Continuity Across Generations: Successful succession is far more than choosing the next CEO. Lansberg examines the psychological, organizational, ownership, and family dynamics that determine whether an enterprise successfully transitions from one generation to another. He explores how families can develop future leaders, establish credible governance processes, align expectations, and create a shared vision capable of sustaining both the family and the enterprise.

Governance, Leadership and the Responsible Ownership of Family Enterprises

As family enterprises grow across generations, leadership must evolve from founder-centered decision-making toward effective governance and responsible ownership. Lansberg explores the roles of boards, family councils, shareholders, and family members in building institutions capable of balancing business performance with family priorities. He provides practical insights for transforming ownership from a privilege into a responsibility and preparing family shareholders to become effective stewards of a shared enterprise.

Preparing the Next Generation

Continuity depends not only on transferring financial capital but also on developing the family’s human capital. Lansberg explores how business families can prepare rising generations for ownership, leadership, and stewardship. Through education, experience, mentoring, governance participation, and thoughtful succession planning, families can equip younger members with the judgment and capabilities needed to preserve—and reinvent—the enterprise for the future.

RELATED SPEAKERS

FERNANDA JARAMILLO

Expert on Family Businesses and succession. Partner at LGA (Lansberg Gersick Advisors)

DEVIN DECIANTIS

Managing Partner at LGA (Lansberg Gersick Advisors). Expert in contingency planning, risk, and...

DEVIN DECIANTIS

Managing Partner at LGA (Lansberg Gersick Advisors). Expert in contingency planning, risk, and...