With Dr. Karl Benzio; Bill Messinger, Esq.
& Melissa Mitchell-Blitch, MS,
MA
We have all seen a loved one make some
destructive decisions. When someone we love is in the grip of a harmful
pattern, we naturally want to help. In spite of our best intentions though, our
efforts are sometimes actually more harmful than helpful. The psychobabble term
for this is "enabling," otherwise known as "good intentions gone
wrong."
For Family businesses there are added pressures
and stresses in that, people know each other’s baggage, insecurities,
weaknesses, and shortcomings. There are extra pressures to succeed, work
harder, and work longer. In the Family and the Business, at times, a lot more
enabling occurs – meaning family usually ignores or “protects” the person from
the natural consequences thus enabling the destructive/dysfunctional behavior
to continue.
What
is a Family Business to do? How should a Family Business address these critical
issues?
Karl Benzio, MD, Psychiatrist
is an international speaker and frequent media guest expert. Karl
testified for
Congress and the President's Bioethics Commission, taught counseling program
courses,
and spearheaded a unique Katrina relief effort. He has started a
non-profit ministry, called Lighthouse Network, has directed adult and
adolescent programs, psychiatric ER, as well as a Christian Rehab program,
using his unique cutting-edge workshop, WITHIN REACH, to help people transform
their lives, as it did Karl's addiction.
William
F. Messinger JD, LADC, Attorney, Advisor and Counselor. As the architect and leading
proponent of using
family resources and influence to encourage compliance with treatment
recommendations, Bill is pursuing his mission to improve recovery rates from
alcohol and drug addiction. In 1998, he originated the concept of applying very
successful treatment protocols for physicians and pilots to other groups and
has written extensively on the use of leverage by families to improve outcomes
for their loved ones.
Melissa Mitchell-Blitch, MS, MA.
Melissa pulls from her
previous careers as a CPA/advisor, then
counselor, to help families navigate
the relational and emotional challenges of wealth and business. She provides
both coaching and consulting to families, and collaborates with the family’s
advisors. Through her work with hundreds of challenging cases over the past
decade, Melissa has developed an empathic yet direct style, which allows her to
establish rapport with a wide range of personality types. She works with
families to displace wishful thinking with skills, to replace avoidance with
communication, and to dispel fear via clarity and intention. This process has
shown to transform families in ways they never imagined were possible.
continued serving business families that we have known for years, and we enjoyed navigating additional opportunities for my son, Aaron, and I to work together.
