Justus O'Brien
Appearances
Redefiners
Leadership Lounge: How can family enterprise leaders stay ahead in a fast-changing world?
Good companies engage the next generation and engage them in the strategy and strategy development. They make them participate in that. That's a way in which
Redefiners
Leadership Lounge: How can family enterprise leaders stay ahead in a fast-changing world?
you know family-owned businesses can strike the right balance between continuity enduring values and refreshing their strategy and refreshing their thinking by bringing in the next generation you bring in new thinking which in a sense helps bring that business into the present tense and into the eventually into the future as opposed to being firmly rooted in the past of the business
Redefiners
Leadership Lounge: How can family enterprise leaders stay ahead in a fast-changing world?
I mean, the one thing we hear consistently as we talk to family businesses around the world is the importance of thinking about succession. And it doesn't matter whether it's first generation, second generation, or even more evolved family businesses that have professional management in place. It's critically important not to delay CEO succession.
Redefiners
Leadership Lounge: How can family enterprise leaders stay ahead in a fast-changing world?
It's not something people generally want to deal with unless they're in a crisis mode. And if there's good leadership in place, there's a tendency, a natural tendency to sort of put that off. You need to start this work early. And only by starting early can you think through what the needs of the business are going to be in terms of your leadership requirements.
Redefiners
Leadership Lounge: How can family enterprise leaders stay ahead in a fast-changing world?
And really start thinking about who you've got internally. Start to plan, put together development plans for those individuals with enough time for them to really realize their full potential, and through those activities be ready for that eventuality of having to switch out a CEO.
Redefiners
Leadership Lounge: How can family enterprise leaders stay ahead in a fast-changing world?
And so that's one of the things we try to do with our generation and our family enterprise advisory work is help clients through each of those steps. And, you know, it's not complicated in design, but it's extremely nuanced in execution.
Redefiners
Leadership Lounge: How can family enterprise leaders stay ahead in a fast-changing world?
Family businesses afford the opportunity for leaders to think through the long-term benefits of a strategy and deploy the resources as needed without those pressures of short-term gains or results. So I think family-owned businesses will continue to attract top-level talent who find that to be a very favorable environment in which to lead.
Redefiners
Leadership Lounge: How can family enterprise leaders stay ahead in a fast-changing world?
Thanks, Emma. It's great to be here.
Redefiners
Leadership Lounge: How can family enterprise leaders stay ahead in a fast-changing world?
What we've observed with family businesses that have flourished over generations is how central the value system is to those businesses. Our view is that companies that focus on the values as opposed to a set of rules tend to thrive and tend to be able to pass on those values from one generation to the next.