Monthly Archives: November 2018

11/28/18

Thinking About Family Business

Hi Rick,

I was parking my car over near the Vitamin Shoppe, and for some reason I started to think about family businesses.  I thought about how they usually do not last past their third generation. I’ve learned that from you, and always accepted it as fact.  I still know it to be fact, but this time it struck me very hard. Why should that be? What makes the difference between three generations and out, and a multi-generational family business? And what makes that business one that continues for 100 years or more?

Well, it occurs to me that times change. The economy changes. Opportunities for upcoming generations change. The way young people view their futures; their attitudes toward work changes. Is their family business one they can be proud of? Does the business’ values match the values of the current time? Can it’s products or services be updated again and again? What impact does the incumbent generation have upon their thinking? How often can/do they impart a vision of the business in the future?

What makes a young person wish to stay with and build their family business?  And where is the tipping point between the second or third generation, and the next hundred years?

You’ve said it begins with intention.  Where does intention begin?

Suddenly I find this a deep and meaningful mystery.

***

Some thoughts from the Vitamin Shoppe parking lot – November 27, 2018

11/10/18

Moving Into Eldership Roles

In last week’s blog article I presented a situation in which a daughter, now CEO of the family business, wanted her father to take on a different role in the business. Her father was content to be managing some of the business operations. His daughter wished him to assume the role of the firm’s ‘ambassador.’ With his industry knowledge and contacts she envisioned him spreading goodwill, identifying potential opportunities and mentoring next-generation family members.

A reader of this article took exception to the daughter’s attitude. The reader wrote that the daughter should not object to her father pursuing his own interests, within reason. That she should not be the judge of how her father can be most beneficial. That she should be honoring her father as founder of the business. That she should have respect and faith that her father knows what he is most comfortable doing and where he might bring the most value to the firm. My reader added the opinion that the daughter’s thinking was potentially based more on her own goals than on her father’s interests.

I’m grateful to my reader for the thoughtful and useful feedback. It highlights how many different viewpoints exist in situations like this and many strong emotions as well.

We, as professional family-business consultants, recognize various roles that elder family-business leaders can move into as they age and next-generation family members take over the business, or are ready to. There is the role of ‘ambassador,’ described in the first paragraph. There are ‘monarchs’ who hang onto authority and control until they die. There are ‘generals’ who leave but don’t give up their authority and may even return to ‘save’ the business.

As it happens, in the family business described above we see the father assuming yet another common role, that of ‘inventor’ He has returned to developing the firm’s core business. He is in a position, now with his expanded knowledge and experience, to add value to the firm with innovative management ideas, production methods and products.

The ‘ambassador’ and the ‘inventor’ are two of the more valuable roles a family-business elder can embrace as they pass leadership onto the next generation.