How to have family business meetings that are productive––and short
Jenn Wheeling and her four siblings were raised at the James Ranch in Durango, Colorado. At 18 they were sent out into the world, but one by one four of the five came back to live on the ranch and raise their families. Their parents’ requirement was that they each start their own businesses, which they did. The families now have enterprises that include vegetables and flowers, milk and cheese, trees, a restaurant, and of course regeneratively-produced meat.
Each of these businesses operates independently, but the family needs to work together to make decisions about the ranch overall. So they adopted a process that streamlines that work, called the Delegated Meeting Process. Adopted from a process Joe Wheeler learned in his corporate work, it allows meetings to flow with a minimum of wasted time, ego, and unnecessary impediments––crucial pieces to making a family ranch operate smoothly and with interpersonal harmony.
Joe and Jenn Wheeling will speak about this process at the REGENERATE Conference in November in Santa Fe.
More Episodes
Episode 164 – From Suburban Chicago to Rural Montana: the Journey of a Bison Rancher
From Suburban Chicago to Rural Montana: the Journey of a Bison Rancher Matt Skoglund was an attorney with a conservation non-profit, but over time was drawn to work on the land. With no prior agrarian experience he started a successful bison ranch using regenerative...
Episode 163 – A Matter of Conscience: Will Harris on Regenerating an Industrial Ranch
A Matter of Conscience: Will Harris on Regenerating an Industrial Ranch In his new book, Will Harris describes the moment when he saw that his industrial ranch was cruel to animals and bad for the land. Before he'd ever heard the phrase "regenerative grazing" he...
Episode 162 – The Robber Barons of Today’s Food Industries
The Robber Barons of Today's Food Industries Iowan Austin Frerick saw his home state transform from a world of farms to one of toxic factory food and hollowed out rural communities. Yet he offers optimism and real solutions. Austin Frerick grew up in Iowa, which in...