Mind Your Own Business: And Keep It in the Family

``The family that makes money together, stays together,'' declares Syms, the oldest of six children and the heir and president and COO of a family-run chain of 29 off-price retail apparel stores founded by her father, Sy Syms, and bearing his surname. Citing her own and other family enterprises, she discusses in practical detail how they function as long-term working entities. Syms also reveals with candor how such businesses may require ``conflict management'' techniques, including family councils, to cope with sibling rivalries, succession and smooth transition of control from one generation to another. Along with management policy dos and don'ts, she recommends outside work experience as a prerequisite for family members who want to join a family-run firm. Most of the estimated 1.5 million family-controlled businesses in the U.S., she claims, tend to offer both family and non-family employees security, creative opportunities and humanitarian policies favorable to women--although, she acknowledges, the top jobs still usually go to men. (Feb.)