Stewardship, conflict resolution, adaptation. These are consistent themes when discussing family business. Even the most successful face challenges, but the difference is how they deal with them.
Discussing how their companies have done so were key executives of this year’s North Carolina Family Business of the Year Award winners: Cliff Birch, president of Waxhaw-based Birch Brothers Southern Inc.; Jim Griffith, president of Charlotte-based Griffith Real Estate Services Co.; Mike Ziebell, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Goldsboro-based Pate Dawson Co.; and Jennifer Sexton, director of operations of Charlotte-based Partners in Care LLC, and her brother, Matt Olin, the company’s business manager. Offering expert insight were Kathy Baker, director of the Wake Forest University Family Business Center in Winston-Salem, which holds the annual competition; and Charlotte Office President Chris Cecil and Senior Partner Steve Salley of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.-based GenSpring Family Offices, which sponsored and hosted the panel. Business North Carolina Publisher Ben Kinney moderated the discussion. Following is a transcript, edited for brevity and clarity.
Executives and experts talk about what makes family-owned businesses a different breed.
Founded in 1885 as J.H. Pate Grocery, Goldsboro-based Pate Dawson has become the nation’s 27th-largest food-service distributor. Winner in the large category (more than 250 employees), the company has thrived in good and bad economies by being willing to change. In the past five years, annual sales have grown to more than $25 million.
How has being a family business contributed to your company’s success.
Ziebell: We’ve adapted from a retailer to grocery wholesaler to a restaurant wholesaler. But also it’s due to the way we treat our customers. We were talking customer intimacy long before it was a buzzword. It’s not just ownership but stewardship of the company — initiative, whole-person servant leadership, which is very important to us, change, commitment to goal achievement, communication, growth, learning, superior performance and teamwork. Those are our core values that help us be successful.
What about the stereotype of family businesses as dysfunctional organizations rife with conflict between generations, branches and siblings? Mike, what’s your perspective as a nonfamily employee?
Ziebell: This wasn’t a family that fights each other or has conflicts. They’re very structured. When I was hired, I heard, “My sons are coming in; they’ll be the next generation. There’s plenty of room for you here if you want to be successful. We’ll help you be successful.” The company runs that way. I feel like I’m a very important part of the management team. I am. I have a lot of decision-making ability. I’m treated very, very well. I like being there, good team to work for. Good people, good sense of values. Like I said, the values are very, very important to our company.
How important is it for family members to start their careers outside the business?
Ziebell: Our CEO is an accountant like myself. He’s a CPA. He worked in a public accounting firm before he went into the family business, so he had his time out. And all of his family members work outside the business before they come in to work. That’s a great way to introduce people to being successful on their own, not just because of who they are.
Talk about how your businesses are structured?
Ziebell: We have outside board members. The chairman is a family member and the CEO is on the board, but the other members are all outsiders, which helps me, being an outsider, to have a board to hear my perspective and to provide a perspective different from the family view.
Ziebell: What’s different for a family-owned company versus a public company is long-term vision, not just quarterly profits. You can invest now and say, “OK, I know we’re going to have a couple of tough years, but this is the right thing to do for the company in the long term.” The stewardship you’re providing for future generations has to be focused on the future and not today, not the next quarter.
This article originally appeared in the May 2010 issue of Business North Carolina magazine.
