Professor Enrique M. Soriano, author of “Sibling Rivalry in Family Business”, is a World Bank/IFC Governance Consultant, Educator, Columnist and Family Business Coach who helps family members come to an agreement even when their values do not align.
Growing up, Soriano saw the effects of sibling rivalry first-hand. His maternal grandfather’s remarriage brought dissonance to their previously harmonious family dynamic. Soriano’s mother couldn’t cope with her new siblings, and there was a falling out. Feeling like an outsider in her new, blended family, she withdrew.
For more than three decades, this schism persisted. Finally, the half-siblings took the initiative to mend things, stating in their wills that much of their family’s wealth was rightfully Soriano’s mother’s.
Sibling rivalry became a theme in Soriano’s professional life as well. In the corporate world, Soriano saw dysfunction in the family-owned businesses he came into contact with: their problems manifesting shameless board room disputes, their unhealthy rivalries writ large in front of company executives.
To mitigate the potential fallout of such conflict in the family business, Soriano was compelled to explore the phenomenon of sibling rivalry in depth.
