Friday, April 26, 2013

Family Business Panel - April 18, 2013




Matt Mulcahy | PJ Schmid | George Hanford  |  Arnie Rubeinstein  |  Dick Schneider
We were privileged to have Matt Mulcahy from CNYCentral be our MC at our Wisdom event last week at Jusin’s Tuscan Grill.  Not that our panelist needed any help sharing their knowledge and wisdom but Matt certainly put a great polish on the event.

Four family business leaders joined us for a panel to share some triumphs and struggles.  As you all know family businesses are notably private people, therefore it is a great honor when they choose to share with their peers.   Several candid conversations took place concerning family members being chosen to lead their family business into the next generation and those who were not chosen.   I am pretty sure we only touched the surface of that topic.

There was a lot of conversation about embracing change not just through generational change but throughout business.  Keeping the business fresh and competitive seemed to be a large focus with each leader in the room.  How did this relate to family in the business - having the right people in the right positions is obviously key to communication and cooperativeness.  Not only does there need to be strong leadership and respect for that role, but the other roles that family plays in their positions are just as important.   There were also differing opinions on how partnerships between siblings work and may not work.

There were moments of reflection from one of the leaders expressing emotion of the passing of a brother and how that not only had a large impact on their family but the impact it had on losing a partner in business.  And moments of laughter when it was discussed that diversification of a family may be better than having everyone working in the same business.  If the business was to fail a family event such as a wedding would be a downer if everyone there was unemployed!

Bonus of the event - new connections were made between business leaders and possible new opportunities for doing business locally. 

Hope to see you at our next event and have you make connections with the leaders of this community.

-Donna