Category: Commentary

In January 2021 I joined the Great Resignation and took an early retirement from the University of Minnesota (UMN). I had spent 12 years there teaching social entrepreneurship and managing Read more

How to Keep Remote Workers Inspired and Engaged

Like all kinds of firms, family businesses have undergone a culture shock because of the pandemic. After starting out in the pandemic’s early days as a survival mechanism, remote work is now Read more

Editor's Note: This article, originally published in July of 2022, has been updated periodically to reflect other milestones in readership. The most recent update was made May 28, 2025. In late May Read more

Let the Next Generation of Family Firm Leaders Chart Their Own Path

While start-ups are typically known for their innovation, family businesses are seen as mired in traditions and stuck in the past. But recent research shows that the next generation of leadership can Read more

Gordon Davis and Jim Wetherbe at the Celebration of 50 Years of MIS at the University of Minnesota in 2018. It takes a Herculean entrepreneurial effort to create and sustain a new academic Read more

What Olivetti Style Teaches Us About Lasting Aesthetic Legacy

Lavazza. Alessi. Olivetti. Campari. These brands evoke images of products, advertisements, or memories of our past: the aroma of Lavazza coffee or an Alessi coffee maker at work, the sound of keys on Read more

Our 2022 e-Fest competition kicked off on April 28 with a video starring all 25 of our finalist teams. Share it with your teammates and friends, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to stay in Read more

Photo taken by Kai Dragland at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 2012 Since our founding in 2014, a central part of our mission at EIX has been supporting knowledge-sharing Read more

EIX Executive Editor David Deeds is a professor in the Department of Entrepreneurship, the Schulze Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship and research director of the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship at Read more

A key part of our mission at EIX and FamilyBusiness.org is giving entrepreneurs access to new knowledge generated by top-notch academic research. As part of that mission, we have partnered with Read more