You may have noticed a small desk lamp sitting in the corner of the Spotlight website. It blinks. It bounces. And if you hover over it, it asks if it can help. That's Spotty — our new AI-powered research assistant, built to make the CeFEO research collection accessible in a way that reading lists and search bars never quite managed.

Spotty knows every article published on Spotlight by CeFEO. Not just their titles — their findings, their methods, their practical implications. Ask a question about succession, board governance, employee retention, or any other topic covered by our growing library of research summaries, and Spotty will point you to the studies that matter most, explain what they found, and give you the full academic reference so you can dig deeper.

This is not a general-purpose chatbot. Spotty doesn't browse the internet or make things up. Every answer is grounded in peer-reviewed research published on this site. If a topic isn't covered, Spotty will tell you — honestly and directly.

What Spotty can do

Find research that fits your question

Describe a challenge you're facing — "How do I handle a succession when the next generation isn't ready?" or "What does the research say about non-family CEOs?" — and Spotty will scan the full Spotlight collection and return the articles most relevant to your situation. Each suggestion comes with a one-line explanation of why it fits.

Summarize the article you're reading

If you're already on an article page and want a quick overview before diving in, click the lamp and hit "Summarize this article." Spotty will give you a concise, practitioner-focused summary of the key findings and takeaways — no jargon, no filler.

Go deeper on any topic

Once Spotty points you to a study, ask follow-up questions. "What methods did they use?" "How large was the sample?" "What does this mean for my board?" Spotty will pull from the article's content and give you a focused answer, complete with the full academic citation and DOI link — ready for your own reference list or a conversation with your advisor.

Provide full academic references

Every study Spotty discusses comes with its complete citation: authors, year, title, journal, volume, issue, pages, and a clickable DOI link. Whether you're preparing a board presentation, writing a family charter, or just want to verify where an insight comes from, the source is always one click away.

How to use Spotty

Look for the small animated lamp icon in the bottom-right corner of any Spotlight page. Hover over it and you'll see "Ask Spotty!" — click to open the chat. Type your question in plain language. No keywords needed, no Boolean operators, no special syntax. Just ask what you want to know.

On mobile and tablet, the chat opens full-screen for a comfortable reading experience. Your conversation persists for 15 minutes across pages, so you can browse articles and come back to pick up where you left off.

A few things to try:

• "What research do you have on family business governance?"
• "Tell me about how family firms prepare for uncertains times?"
• "Summarize this article" (when you're on an article page)
• "What's the full reference for the M&A study by Chirico?"
• "I'm a next-gen leader preparing to take over — what should I read?"

What Spotty is not

Spotty is not a consultant. It won't tell you what to do with your specific business — that's a conversation for your trusted advisors. What it will do is connect you with the research evidence that informs those conversations. Think of Spotty as the well-read colleague who always knows which paper to point you to.

Spotty also doesn't invent answers. If the Spotlight collection doesn't cover your topic, Spotty will say so. No hallucinations, no padding, no vague generalities dressed up as insight.

Why we built this

Spotlight by CeFEO now hosts over 100 research summaries covering succession, governance, entrepreneurship, ownership, family dynamics, and more. That's a rich resource — but finding exactly the right article at exactly the right moment can be hard when you're not sure which search terms to use or which study addresses your particular situation.

Spotty bridges that gap. It's powered by Claude (Anthropic's AI), and it reads every article in the collection. When you ask a question, it doesn't just match keywords — it understands what you're asking and finds the studies whose findings actually speak to your situation.

We built Spotty because we believe research should work harder for the people it's meant to serve. If an academic study has something useful to say about the challenge you're facing today, you shouldn't need a PhD to find it.

Always on the spot

Spotty is available on every page of spotlight.cefeo.se, around the clock. The collection grows as CeFEO researchers publish new work, and Spotty's knowledge updates automatically. So the next time you have a question about family business — whether it's a strategic puzzle, a governance dilemma, or just curiosity about what the evidence says — look for the little lamp in the corner.

Spotty is always on the spot!

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