Family businesses come with their own unique set of challenges, from handling succession planning and generational conflict to balancing growth with culture.
During the 2024 Family & Closely Held Business Summit, held Monday at the Brookfield Conference Center, leaders from four southeastern Wisconsin companies shared how they’ve navigated the challenge of leading a family business while also attempting to unlock a new phase growth.
The event featured a panel discussion including Katie Juehring, owner, chairman and CEO of Glenroy; JJ Stanwyck, CEO of COST, Inc. and Refractory Service, Inc.; Mike Moore, president of Moore Construction Services; and Paul Bostrom, president of H.O. Bostrom.
Here are some pieces of advice shared by panelists Monday.
Become involved in whatever way you can
It isn’t always feasible for family members to join the business right away, especially depending on what roles are available. Juehring ended up moving to Iowa with her husband after graduating from college, leaving her unable to participate in the day-to-day operations at Glenroy. Still, she remained involved in whatever way she could.
“We focused on being involved at the board level and being able to support the business in whatever way we could. That was appropriate,” said Juehring. “It led us, my brother and sister and I, to become really involved owners on the board level and (we were) involved on a weekly basis.”
When it was her time to lead Glenroy, she had already familiarized herself with the ins and outs of the business.
Passing down knowledge
When Stanwyck returned home to Wisconsin to lead COST and Refractory Service, it was in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The companies lost hundreds of years of experience through retirements. Stanwyck quickly realized he needed to sell his employees on the importance of “tribal knowledge,” or passing information down to the next generation.
“I realized we needed to have the ability to spread that knowledge out,” said Stanwyck. “To professionalize (knowledge) meant that we took away tasks from these individuals that were trivial and didn’t really mean much so they can focus on their craft, which was extremely important.”
Lead with forgiveness in mind
Part of the learning process involves making mistakes, but mistakes can stack up when you’re trying to run a profitable business. Moore has found leading with forgiveness in mind, while still holding employees accountable, has helped build his company’s culture.
“Everyone gets one ‘get out of jail card.’ They could have made a wrong decision and done something wrong to impact the business in some way, but we can’t be a hatchet man and come in and burn them down right away,” said Moore. “We want people to be able to make mistakes, learn and grow but we can’t have repetitive issues. We give people grace but there must be a limit. There has to be accountability.”
Getting to the next generation takes work
In 2012, Bostrom and his father began the process of “affectionately trimming” the family tree after he bought out his uncle once it was clear none of his family would be coming into the business. More recently, Paul took over the business from his dad in 2021. This can be a difficult process, he said, as older generations aren’t typically looking to give up their leadership positions. Persistence eventually paid off for Bostrom, who is looking to simplify the onboarding process for future generations.
“I’m trying to make sure there’s interest with the next generation, the fourth generation, and onboard them in a way that works,” said Bostrom. “You need to keep pushing, because if you’re the one trying to get into that seat, you have more interest and more at stake than anyone else.”
Nurture your relationships
Running a business is already a difficult enough task without the added complexity of working with family members. Juehring said it’s important to remember to tend to those familial relationships so when a problem does arise, all parties involved can work through them in a respectful and productive way.
“Tend to the family relationships really carefully because they’re delicate,” she said. “If the family can be really healthy, then the business can be really healthy. We met for 10 years with a counselor quarterly to talk about these topics and governance. We also spent many years with the family business center in (UW-Madison), having those hard conversations, because you don’t know when a wreck is going to happen in the future. You can already have a platform and a foundation of understanding with one another and know that everyone’s coming to the table wanting the best for the business.”
