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TREVOR DICKINSON

EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN OF DICKINSON GROUP OF COMPANIES

AND CEO & FOUNDER OF FAMILY LEGACIES

Three Decades of Experience, at your service

As a fourth-generation member of a family business, I understand, perhaps more than most, the challenges faced by business families during periods of transition or conflict.

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And it breaks my heart when I see it happen, which is why I founded Family Legacies in 2020, after a 30-year career with our 110-year-old family business. I have developed a passion to help family businesses resolve the critical issues of keeping the family and the business successful and leaving a legacy for future generations.

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As a neutral but empathetic advisor, my role is to work systematically in that challenging space between business, family, and ownership systems, identifying and resolving tensions as well as supporting and enabling the business and personal aspirations of the owners.

Seen it with my own eyes

I’ve often had to prevent or resolve conflict. Seeing how threatening conflicts can be to relationships and to the business, and having to resolve them, I gained a unique perspective on the habitual patterns that exist, and how to shift or change them.

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Because these aspects are so specific to family business conflicts, no matter which members are involved and no matter what kinds of issues are at stake (i.e., succession, inheritance, management, growth, power, role definitions, etc.), family conflicts are never linear.

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The simplest models of conflict resolution assume that people are fighting about what they say they are fighting about. This may often be true to disputes between strangers who happen to transgress one’s rights or threaten one another’s interests, but in my experience working with family business owners, this is rarely the case between family members.

A successful business should be successful because of the business family, not despite it.

My advanced training as a family business advisor, executive coach, and certified civil and commercial mediator, as well as my personal experience, enables me to work collaboratively with business families, and their trusted professional advisors, in response to either a crisis situation or as part of a planned transition programme.

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With thirty years experience, coupled with my roles as CEO & Founder of Family Legacies, Chairman of Dickinson Group of Companies, member of Institute of Directors, Family Firm Institute, Exit Planning Institute, Institute of Advisors, Family Business Australia, International Mediation Institute, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) and Civil Mediation Council (UK) certified mediator, together with my postgraduate, executive and certificate programmes, I bring a combination of theory and practice, empathy and experience to your needs.

QUALIFICATIONS

  • Bachelor of Building Management – University of Natal, South Africa (1988) 

  • Programme for Management Development – University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (1994) 

  • Master of Business Administration – University of Witwatersrand Business School (2000) 

  • Property Development Programme – University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (2000) 

  • Strategic Management – Henley Business School, Graduate Institute of Management and Technology (2002) 

  • Coaching to Excellence – Centre for Coaching, University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (2008) 

  • Certificate in Leadership Coaching – University of Witwatersrand Business School (2010) 

  • Scenario Planning & Strategic Thinking – Gordon Institute of Business Science (2013) 

  • Strategies for Excelling in Emerging Markets – Gordon Institute of Business Science (2013) 

  • Executive Development Programme – University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (2013) 

  • Being a Director – Institute of Directors, South Africa (2020) 

  • Family Business Governance & Directorship – Family Business Australia, FBA (2020) 

  • Dual Certificates in Family Business & Family Wealth Advisory – Family Firm Institute, USA (2020)

  • Certified Exit Planning Advisor – Exit Planning Institute, USA (2021)  

  • IMI Civil & Commercial Mediation – London School of Mediation, UK (2021)

  • Certified Professional Business Advisor – Institute of Advisors, Australia (2021)

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Of course, those accolades are only as useful as the actual results your family can obtain from engaging my services – and I can assure you that the results are significant. If your family has had enough of strife, warring, and conflict, and you feel now is the time to create change and improvements, I’m here to help and put my 30 years of experience behind your efforts.

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