A working session where your members practise something new, not just hear about it.
Best for
Forum groups, peer groups, and client families
Length
Two to four hours
Group size
Best with 10 to 20 people
Recording
Never, so people can speak freely
40%
Tom explains the behavioural patterns at play through a psychotherapy lens, in plain language, with composite examples your members will recognise.
40%
Members try a new way of speaking, listening, or responding, in pairs and small groups.
20%
Open time for the family business questions people rarely ask in front of their peers.
A talk changes how members see the problem. Practice changes what they do. In a masterclass, members work with real conflicts from their own businesses and try a new response in the room, so it is already familiar when the pressure is on.
A clinical view of family business relationships, from Australia's first family business psychotherapy practiceDrawn from work every month with business families across Australia, with every example a composite so no family can be identifiedPlain language, no jargon, and no therapy models to learnNo sales pitch from the stage. The session is the product.Tom shows how a pattern runs, from the old rule underneath it to the emotions it avoids, through archetypes members will recognise at their own table: the founder who won't let go, the peacekeeper who comes last, the compliant next generation.
Privately, each member names the archetype at their table, and the one that is them. Nobody else reads it.
Three short exercises build from one person to the whole room. A volunteer speaks to someone who isn't there. Pairs work through a real conflict from outside the room. Then the whole table speaks to each other the way a family session begins.
Each member leaves with one specific change that someone at work will notice.
Chatham House rule, and stricter. Every exercise is voluntary, and watching counts as taking part.
Practical tools they can use with their own families straight away.
A map of the pattern at their own table, and the part they play in it.The two emotions that pattern is avoiding, and how to name them.A way of speaking they have already practised, so it holds under pressure.One change for Monday that someone else will notice.Each topic is tailored to the people in the room.
For business families
Members map a recurring conflict at their own table, find the old rule underneath it, and practise one response that interrupts it.
For successors
Successors separate what they want from what is expected of them, and practise saying it to the person they have been deferring to.
For patriarchs and matriarchs
Patriarchs and matriarchs work through what letting go costs them, and practise handing over the decision, not just the title.
For women in business families
Members name the unseen roles they hold, and practise stepping out of the one that keeps them last.
For non-family executives
Executives learn to recognise when they are being drawn into a family pattern, and practise staying in their role without taking sides.
For advisers
Advisers learn to spot the five patterns in a client meeting, and practise the conversation that refers a family to psychotherapy without losing the client.
Tom is regularly invited to speak at family business forums and conferences.
Who they are, what they are facing, and the date and length you have in mind.
A short conversation with Tom to choose the topic and shape the exercises to your members.
Examples, exercises, and questions are built around your group, in person anywhere in Australia or online.
Tom is a masters-qualified psychotherapist, a member of the Australian Counselling Association, and the founder of everpath, Australia's first family business psychotherapy practice. He works with business families across Australia and is a member of a family business himself.
My Shout podcast · Weeks Without Talking
On the My Shout podcast, Tom talks about the clash with his brother that led to weeks of silence, and how the patterns we learn as children replay in the boardroom.
Also interviewed on
Yes. Every masterclass is shaped to your members, whether they are founders, successors, whole families, or the advisers who serve them.
Yes. Taking part in any exercise is voluntary, and watching is always enough. Nobody is asked to work on their own family in front of the group.
So members can speak freely.
Never. Every example is a composite, so no real family can be identified.
Yes. Tom is based in Sydney and presents anywhere in Australia, and online.
Yes. Tom runs public workshops in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and online, where each person books their own seat.
Book a free 20-minute call with Tom to talk about your group, your date, and the best topic.
