FAMILY AFFAIR: Experts discuss the joys and pitfalls of working with your kin.

PositionFAMILY BUSINESS ROUND TABLE

UNCOMFORTABLE FAMILY DINNERS AND ESTRANGEMENT BETWEEN SIBLINGS ARE JUST TWO OF THE CHALLENGES OF FAMILY BUSINESS.

But the joy of building something over the generations, pride of ownership and playing a vital role in the community nourish those involved in such enterprises. Our round table participants know both the ups and downs and share some insights into working for the family business.

HOW DO YOU HANDLE SOME OF THE DAY-TO-DAY ISSUES OF WORKING WITH FAMILY?

DAVIS What I found I have to do is bring numbers; everything has to come back to numbers. So if I ever come up with an idea for the business, I have to back it with numbers. Stick to business, not feelings. I think that's how you separate things with us.

FUSSELL Our board meetings used to be my dad, my mom, me and my two brothers. There were not a lot of boundaries. We would start fussing and fighting. Dad, poor fellow, was trying to set policies and get things into place and define goals. Our arguing interrupted a lot of that. It's kind of amazing that we are where we are coming from those humble beginnings.

We were very lucky in the fact that our business grew where he could place folks 2 miles over here and 2 miles over here, so that if we got into an argument, we didn't fistfight.

Today, my brother and I get along great. Unfortunately, somebody's got to be in charge and, because I'm the oldest, I placed myself in charge.

He does his thing and he's great at what he's doing. He's a little more on the political side, and I'm a little more of a nuts-and-bolts kind of guy. We get along great--it wouldn't work unless we did.

GRIFFIN We have grown to the size that we can work together but not be on top of each other. I live in Charlotte, and my dad and grandfather work in our Greensboro office. I get to see them, but I'm not up under them all of the time. I think some space, some roles and responsibilities, and a little bit of structural change have helped us keep the family harmony.

SUCCESSION PLANNING IS A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF FAMILY BUSINESS. HOW SHOULD IT BE APPROACHED?

THOMPSON Succession planning is not something you wake up one day and decide, "Today, we're going to move the company over to the next generation." It's a process. The folks that have been most successful are thoughtful in terms of what their goals are for the business in the long term, whether it makes sense to try to send it to the next generation, to train people internally to run the company or to sell altogether.

I grew up on a farm. Every direction I looked there was someone related to me. Although I would look out and see all of my relatives located in different places in the distance, not all of them got along.

My great-grandfather originally purchased the farm [during] the Great Depression. He had four sons, and each of them ran an aspect of the farm. He died and had not done any planning whatsoever. They all went bananas, for lack of a better legal term.

My great-grandmother was still alive. When she passed away, they couldn't get along and they broke everything up. That was my initial experience with family...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT