Greg McCann

leadership-starts-with-awareness
Image courtesy of Greg McCann.

Greg McCann knows the family business advantage of shared history, purpose and vision. At the same time, however, he has seen the tight-knit bonds therein create confusion and exacerbate the situation for those who feel like their careers are not their own and that their contributions are not legitimate.

McCann grew up in the family business, and began working for his father, a serial entrepreneur when he was 12. He continued in this capacity through college before going on to pursue a career in accounting. Only when he had left the family business did he realise how much it meant to him. Soon enough, he quit his new job to return to his father’s sizeable health care company and loved it.

Not all of his family business experiences were so positive, however. Later, McCann and his brother tried to start a business together with their dad’s backing, which failed. Despite its struggles, their venture did teach Greg McCann the importance of operational best practices conferred through family business education, a revelation that inspired his academic career.

His passion for sharing experiential and theoretical knowledge with others on the same path led him to found the Family Enterprise Center at Stetson University, developing the second minor and first undergraduate major in Family Enterprise in the United States.

Now, post-academia, McCann is an author, coach, speaker and principal at the national family business consulting firm McCann & Associates, where he leverages his considerable expertise coaching leaders.