Insights
By: Doris Sommavilla
How to prepare the Next Generation in a family firm
Make communication and active engagement your top priorities – Doris Sommavilla shares her personal insights
As a Director in the Stonehage Fleming Family Office division, I have extensive experience in working with families in business and ultra-high net worth individuals around the world. My own family story, though, has proved very relevant in informing how I support these families. It is one of a multi-generational Italian hospitality and real estate business, based in the Dolomites, established and grown by my grandfather and father.
Communicate family values
When he was in charge, my father was very entrepreneurial and totally focused on growing wealth and taking care of the financial capital of the business. He communicated very little with us children, leaving my mother to act as the ‘social glue’ of the family, uniting us during hard times and instilling in us the strong family values of hard work, strong relationships and mutual respect. It was this strong communication of the family narrative that preserved what we call refer to as its ‘social capital’ and was ultimately responsible for longevity of the business and its safe transition to the next generation.
Actively engage the Next Gen
Today, my brothers and I are keen that the spirit of clear communication carries on as the business enters its fourth generation. We believe that my nieces and nephews should develop their own entrepreneurial spirit and strongly advise them to do participate in internship programmes in our hotels. If we are to prepare them to be good future leaders in the future, they must understand what the managers are doing today.
Allow some latitude
Generally, we encourage the next generation to take on a little risk – baby steps at first. Take a risk, fail, look back and learn from your mistakes. Start over, fail again. And then, maybe, in the future you will succeed. Mistakes show us the way forward. Being the fourth generation is challenging and the older generations are still required to be heavily involved, but there is a delicate balance to strike between giving people the leeway to make mistakes and stepping in when required. It is a learning curve for all generations.
More from Doris Sommavilla
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Watch: The challenges for non-Italian high net worth families moving to Italy