Mentoring has been recommended as an important function for career development (Kram, 1985). However, it is not clear whether or not mentoring in the family firm is most effective when done by a parent or relative in charge. Mentoring by parents has been discouraged because of the many other roles they already play (Bork, 1986; Nelton, 1986; Ward, 1987), but it has also been highly encouraged as the only way of making sure that the owner's knowledge gets passed on to the successor (Danco, 1982). Gaining experience outside the business has also been recommended (Nelton, 1986; Danco, 1982), as has communication (Barnes and Hershon, 1976; Lansberg, 1988; Rosenblatt, de Mik, Anderson, and Johnson, 1985; Ward, 1987), and planning (Alcorn, 1982; Beckhard and Dyer, 1983a; Flamholtz, 1986; Malone, 1989; Peiser and Wooten, 1983; Thurston, 1983; Ward, 1987).