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How to keep senior family members involved.
How can the leaders of a family business reinvent the business
or change it significantly without being disrespectful to the
senior generation looking on . . . often in
horror, dismay or anger? With great care--especially if the
"family" part of the family business is to be
preserved.
"One of the most difficult and gut-wrenching meetings I was
ever part of was the one where my cousins and I sat down with my
dad, uncle and aunt and laid out our plans to rebuild the
company," says CFO Rick Ghio, one of five family members who
make up the executive team of Anthony's Fish Grotto in San
Diego. The decision to make major changes came after a great deal
of research as to why the five restaurants were losing customers
and experiencing declining sales. "We told them we believed in
our hearts that Anthony's wouldn't survive if we continued
along the path they had laid out for us.
"The changes we planned with the help of a restaurant
consultant were extensive--how we would conduct business, what we
expected from our managers, how the restaurants should look and
what was on the menu. We told them we were trying to get back to
Grandma Ghio's original vision of the
restaurant . . . an underwater grotto with
shimmering lights and vibrant colors. They shed many tears as we
were laying out the plans, and it wasn't easy gaining their
support. But eventually we did."
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Patricia Schiff Estess writes family business histories and
is the author of two books: Managing Alternative Work
Arrangements (Crisp Publishing) and Money Advice for Your
Successful Remarriage (Betterway Press).
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