Randel S. Carlock

Professor Randel Carlock is a business professor, coach, family therapist, entrepreneur, and former CEO and Chairman of a NASDAQ listed company. Randel’s passion for teaching and real-world experience as an entrepreneur helped him enter the new field of family business. As the first Opus Professor of Family Enterprise, he served as founding director of an award-winning family business research centre at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As the first Berghmans Lhoist Chaired Professor in Entrepreneurial Leadership at INSEAD, he then served as founding academic director of the Wendel International Centre for Family Enterprise. Randel and the Wendel International Centre won the 2008 Family Firm Institute International Award for outstanding family business education. He has now researched and taught about entrepreneurship, family business, and coaching at INSEAD for 20 years.

He holds Masters, MBA and PhD degrees and has done postgraduate training in family and marriage therapy at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College and psychodynamic counseling at Birkbeck College, both in London. He also completed the Art and Practice of Leadership Development at Harvard University’s Kennedy School and Strategic Family Therapy Training at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto.

He also advises global business families, banks and corporations on strategy, leadership development, family relationships and governance, specializing in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

He is author and co-author of several books, articles and case studies, including his latest book A Family Business on the Moon: 24 activities to plan your family and business future, co-authored with Keng-Fun Loh, which represents a completely new style of learning and an exciting departure from his previous academic publications.

In addition, he wrote

When Family Businesses are Best: The Parallel Planning Process for Family Harmony and Business Success with John L. Ward (Macmillan, Autumn 2010).

Family Business on the Couch: A Psychological Perspective with Manfred Kets de Vries and Elizabeth Florent-Treacy (John Wiley and Sons, 2007)

Strategic Planning for the Family Business with John L. Ward (Macmillan, 2003) and

Organization Development in Successful Entrepreneurial Firms (Garland Publishing, 1994)

Achievements

- 2009 European Foundation for Management Education Case Writing Award for "From Swords to Ploughshares: Three Generations of Family Entrepreneurship, Conflict, Transitions and Connection" (with Elizabeth Florent-Treacy).

- 2008 recognized with the Family Firm Institute International Achievement Award for "furthering the understanding of family business issues through educational programs with the primary focus on the work of family businesses crossing international borders".

- Received the 2006 Family Business Network Research Award for the best published family business research article (Family Business Review, March 2005) - "Fair Process: Striving for Justice in Family Firms" (with Ludo Van der Heyden and Christine Blondel)

- Awarded the 2005 IMD-European Foundation for Management Education Family Business Case Writing Award - "The HP-Compaq Merger: A Battle for the Heart and Soul of a Company" (with Elizabeth Florent-Treacy)

Education

University of Minnesota:

- MA in education and training (1976)

- Executive MBA in strategic management (1983)

- PhD (1991) - my doctoral dissertation explored the role of organization development in managing high-growth entrepreneurial firms.

Post graduate certification in family and marriage therapy at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, University of London (1998)

Certificate in psycho-dynamic counselling at Birkbeck College, University of London (1999)

Awarded a Certificate in Family Business Advising with Fellow Status (2001) by the Family Firm Institute, Boston (USA).

Personality

Randel is an entertaining and charismatic personality, who brings energy, practicality and sophisticated fun to the complex and often challenging arena of running large family businesses.

He has the ability to bring together intellectual thought leadership with the real world and has a deep understanding of the emotional complexities that often exist, in particular across generations. His extensive training in psychotherapy provides him with the all-important skills to facilitate, with all personalities involved, towards a workable strategic plan.

Randel's expertise allows him to clearly interpret the issues that so often create tensions in family businesses. He has the ability to quickly identify and demystify the challenges and to find and apply innovative and practical strategic solutions with his unbiased external advice and expertise.

The main theme in Randel’s work is the power of learning and personal development in creating deeper meaning in our lives. He believes that we learn 3 ways when we teach: First, from the class we learn how to motivate others; second, we learn about what we are teaching; and last, we learn about ourselves. It’s only when we learn new skills, and more importantly, about ourselves and what we value, that our trajectory towards leadership and making a difference climbs exponentially.

Randel now lives in Singapore. When he’s not teaching on INSEAD’s campuses in Asia (Singapore), Europe (France), and the Middle East (Abu Dhabi)—and now its facility in San Francisco, he tries to connect with his three adult daughters, who live and work in New York, Minneapolis and Muscat, Oman (respectively), at their family cottage in California.