Disruptive Successor Podcast

Dave Specht joins Jonathan Goldhill in this episode of the Disruptive Successor Podcast. Let’s hear from Dave on how he developed Family Business dynamics at Wells Fargo and as well as developing a family business program at the University of Nebraska. Fast forward today, Dave shares a bit of his book: The Family Business Whisperer.

Show Notes

Dave Specht serves as the Director of the Global Family Business Institute at The Drucker School of Management. He is an ambassador for the family-owned business and writes, delivers keynote speeches, and develops programs on topics related to the family business.

Dave is the author of "The Family Business Whisperer" and has a consulting firm called "Advising Generations."

Before this role, he developed the Family Business Management program at the University of Nebraska. He served as National Development Manager for the Family Dynamics Program at Wells Fargo Private Bank.

To learn more about Dave Specht, you can visit him on the links below.

You can also get a copy of Dave’s book called “The Family Business Whisperer” at Amazon.com.

If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe, review and share with a friend who would benefit from the message. If you’re interested in picking up a copy of Jonathan Goldhill’s book, Disruptive Successor, go to the website at www.DisruptiveSuccessor.com.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What is Disruptive Successor Podcast?

The Disruptive Successor Show is a podcast for next-generation leaders in family businesses and entrepreneurs who want to disrupt the status quo to grow their business and take it to the next level.

We all know that what got us here isn’t going to get us there.

If you are taking control over your family’s business or trying to get your business to the next level, you will need inspiration, advice and resources to help you create a massive impact.

Listeners of my show include not only the millennial or Gen Z but also the Baby Boomer and Gen Y. My listeners tend to be involved in these industries: business services, construction, design-build-maintain landscape contracting, food manufacturing, property management, real estate, and technology.

And are interested in issues like business coaching, branding, communication, difficult conversations, disruption, employee ownership, exit planning, financial management, leadership, innovation, intergenerational transfer, marketing, multi-generational family businesses, business operations, process documentation, security, selling, storytelling, succession, visioning, wealth management,

My guests are entrepreneurs, family business advisors, multi-generational and Gen 2 family business leaders, heads of university family business programs, consultants, coaches and firms that serve those who are growth businesses.

Clients of my show typically are running businesses with 10 to 200 employees and $1M to $20M in revenues.

Their concerns include: scaling up, exit planning, succession, leadership development, disruption, business planning, finances, growth planning, transferring generational wealth, transferring control, ownership issues, and more.

The benefits listeners receive are introductions to experts and advisors around the issues of growing and exiting a business, whether it’s a family business or entrepreneurial venture. They get a feel for the challenges other business owners and leaders face and how they overcame them. They will hear stories from people and how they came to do their work and why.

My shows feature handpicked guests who engage with me in casual conversations lasting between 30 to 40 minutes. You can expect to be entertained, engaged and may even get takeaways like business tools or ideas for implementation in your business.

I’ve led entrepreneurial adventures in art, clothing, a holistic health lifestyle magazine and trade show, shoe manufacturing. I’ve also led several non-profit organizations. I earned an MBA from the University of Southern California in Entrepreneurship.

I’ve been advising, coaching and consulting family-owned, family-run and entrepreneur-led businesses since 1989. My love for entrepreneurship follows the closure of my family’s sizeable multi-generational clothing manufacturing company after eight decades of operation because there were no successors.

After uncovering the code to scale up a family-run business - a playbook and a disruptive successor - I wrote a book called Disruptive Successor: A Guide To Driving Growth in Your Family Business.

My podcast is my effort to bring interested people into the conversation to benefit disruptive successors.