With increasing competition for jobs and an apparent ever-rising need to achieve the best grades, does education actually deliver potential leaders of the future? Sandy Loder looks at the challenges associated with selecting the right school. Talk to any parent and the need to give their kids the best chances in life is something that most recognise and strive to achieve, within their means, and education and schooling is more often than not top of the list. But there are some serious questions that come to the fore when discussing the suitability of schooling, not to mention the grades delivered, the topics covered on the syllabus and the level of preparedness that individuals have for the competitive jobs market that they are ultimately going to end up in. Society is looking at the need to deliver grades and the competition for places is tougher than ever. As Sandy Loder explains, “it is not uncommon to hear of children as young as three and four receiving tutoring to prepare them for the tests to get into their chosen pre-schools,” something that may seem difficult to comprehend for some, but a necessity for wealthy parents who are trying to secure a place for their kids in their preferred schools. Schools inevitably have a reputation and they are under enormous pressure to continue to receive great reports from bodies such as OFSTED, not to mention the need to continue to deliver exemplary results too. As Sandy continues, “there is undeniably pressure on schools to perform, but the bigger picture has to be the need to deliver results that put the UK economy on the right footing in terms of the skills needed in future generations to drive the UK to the fore when it comes to dealing with the competition for talent.” Whilst there is competition for places, there also needs to be a more strategic consideration, which in many cases falls by the wayside. What is the best school to provide the holistic education and life experiences for the selected child. All schools have to deliver the core syllabus whilst offering other benefits too, access to sports, cultural studies, music, technology and never forget the networking potential and connections that can be made simply by being in the same school as peers who have parents who have already demonstrated an ability to deliver great results in their own careers too. Sandy is aware that good schools deliver good results but he is prepared to question some of the syllabus, and as he puts it, “should we be spending hours teaching the history of Britain and World Wars when more could be done with leadership and technology to prepare them for the commercial world. Ultimately, history has shaped our nation and should not be forgotten but there needs to be balance, to make sure that the future generations deliver the best skills in people from the UK.” The competition for grades is important and hence the desire to go to what have been long recognised as the ‘best schools.’ In fact, the names speak for themselves, and grades or not, people have aspired to go to schools such as Harrow, Eton, Wellington and Millfield, and then to secure places at Universities such as Oxford and Cambridge for generations and this is unlikely to change in the near future. But, as Sandy continues, it is not just about grades. Serious questions need to be considered such as whether you want your children to board, and if so from what age? Do you consider the need to learn Chinese essential to prepare for the business world of the future? Is technology key to education for your children? There are others of course but there is a growing competitiveness amongst schools, and amongst parents seeking to gain access to the desired school for their children too. And don’t forget the international element. More and more children from India, China and the rest of the world are coming to the UK to obtain what is, in their eyes, an exemplary education, and this places more pressure on the UK system. These individuals are coming to the UK because of the schools and the reputation that these establishments have where they come from and this is important. These children graduate and return home with the name of the establishment firmly contained within their CV and that stands for a lot. So, clearly, it is not always about the grades, and a lot rests with the reputation of the establishment itself. As a parent of two, Sandy appreciates the need to consider the education of ones children carefully. However, as he points out, “life is something of a game and we all do our best to prepare our children to achieve their full potential. However, one must never lose sight of the fact that each and every child is different and what will work for one child in terms of a school, may not be right for another. As parents, there is a need for honesty when it comes to each and every child, to make the right decisions for them and help them to find the right environment in which to learn and flourish. This is turn should help them get the best our of their education, get the best grades possible and then put them firmly on a career path for life.” So as for grades, they are important to a degree, but in reality, the choice of school can actually open doors too through the alumni and ‘old boys’ networks, and if the best teachers are at the best schools and get the best results, there is a strong correlation which leads us full circle in terms of actually understanding why parents strive to send their children to the ‘best schools.’ Furthermore, if the education system prepared the future generation with the skills required, there would be no need for further courses and programmes to deliver the training and tools to become leaders. There are a growing number of MBA’s and other programmes coming to the fore to help plug some of the skills gaps from the general education system too. Grades from school are one thing and help to meet minimum criterion when applying for jobs but there are also other ways that individuals can stand out such as volunteering, summer programmes, work experience and this can enhance the employability of an individual immensely. Clearly, many of the best leaders and bastions of industry have not been to what are courted as the best schools and have done very well for themselves, but parents being parents will always try and push their children to achieve more. Hence it is easy to understand why there is competition for the best schools, but as Sandy concludes, “Parents need to make the right choice for their children and not be afraid to challenge the system at any stage too. It is not just about the grades!”

Tere Cazola is named after its founder. She started making Mexican desserts and cakes in her kitchen back in the 1980s, and now they’re sold all over the country. There are two main aspects to Tere Cazola’s success: an efficient production and distribution operation, and a strong brand. With both of these in mind, she has been very careful to make the business grow in a way that doesn’t affect the quality of the product, and the authentic ‘home-made’ taste. So, as the business scaled up to a new production plant, the emphasis was on ensuring the highest possible standards throughout the production process. “It had to be the same as cooking in my own kitchen,” she says, “only on a much bigger scale. That means taking care of every little detail. That also includes the service we offer to our customers, which has to be second to none.” The other key factor is the brand: “Tere Cazola is all about getting back to the best traditions of home cooking. Flavour, freshness and taste. So we absolutely cannot compromise on quality.” Tere’s plans for the future centre on widening their distribution to more areas of Mexico, and bringing in more members of the family. She has two daughters and a son who already work in Tere Cazola stores, and a second son who is a general manager in the company. Geographical expansion is going to bring new challenges on the distribution side, and will probably mean opening new production facilities, so that freshness and quality can be guaranteed. “I’ve already achieved my first dream of starting this business, and now I want to make sure it can stay in the family for future generations.” This piece featured in the 2016 PwC Global Family Business Survey and has been reproduced with their permission.

As family businesses passes from one generation to the next, there is the inevitability that the number of shareholders will increase. Such an issue can create a challenge for the family and the family business, not least because of the need for communication but also due to the need to manage the individual relationships within the family and with the business itself, with some family shareholders working within the business and some not. As Howard Hackney, one of the leading family business consultants in the UK explains, “there is a big difference between the creation of a business by an entrepreneur who starts out on a journey with nobody to report to and a third or fourth generation business. Put simply, the founder normally owns all the shares but after a few generations there are likely to be more shareholders and they will all have different needs and aspirations too.” Take, for example, a business that was set up by a founder that grew into a successful operation and was passed to the second generation equally prior to his death. The two brothers continued to develop the business, and were joint shareholders (50% each). Everything was fine and the brothers worked well together. In their personal lives, the brothers began families with the first having three boys and the second having one daughter. This example is actually quite common and moving on a number of years the business had continued to grow. The cousins got on well and were all brought up knowing about the family business, the opportunities it provided them as families and the benefits in terms of their lifestyles too. It was as the transition to the third generation that there were challenges and issues that had hitherto never been considered. As Howard continues, “most families face the challenge of doing the right thing by their children and want to make sure that they are fair to them all. In this example, the brothers were originally going to follow the lead from their father and provide for the passing of their shares to the next generation equally. That would have effectively resulted in the daughter owning 50% of the business and her cousins owning 16.67% of the business each. When you consider that the eldest son was working in the business as the Managing Director and the daughter was not working in the business, there were questions that arose.” This scenario is one that is obviously exacerbated as the business gets older and emotionally be difficult for families to address. There is a clear need to consider the role of the shareholder differently to that of an employee/director and there is a need for all owners to take on their role responsibly. Whilst easy to say, there are complications for the family firm when roles are so closely entwined and some family members are actively involved in the day-to-day operations as well as owning shares, whilst other family members are only shareholders. In the example above, the family met to discuss the situation and a solution was determined whereby the shares were put into trusts with each branch of the family having their shares put into a trust for them, thereby ensuring that each family branch had equal voting power. Mechanisms were also put in place to create an internal market for shares so that anyone wising to ‘cash-in’ their shares could do so according to the agreed protocols. The issue of who could on shares was also discussed and it was agreed that they could only be owned by the direct bloodline descendants of the founders, thereby protecting the family business from any issues in the future arising from divorce, civil partnerships etc. As Howard continues, “each family is different and there needs to be recognition of the family needs and wants in determining an approach for the future. Share ownership in the family firm can be a very emotive matter and by going through a process to determine the roles and responsibilities of the shareholders, and determining the role and the involvement of the family is an important process for any family in business to go through. There is no formulaic solution either, as it needs to reflect the drivers and goals of each family. What is right for one family will not work for another.” Clearly, the challenge of shareholder succession is one that needs to be addressed. Sadly, in many instances, the issue is not addressed prior to a significant event occurring, be it a serious health issue or a death in the family, a time when emotions are raw and time needs to be dedicated to dealing with the family crisis, rather than potentially fighting over who owns what and who can do what in terms of the shares in the family business. By drafting appropriate policies and communicating these to the next generation, there are ways to mitigate the risk of conflict and also preventing the family and the family business from suffering due to perceptions of unfairness due to individual shareholdings.

Apart from excellent employee loyalty, Anderson Maguire have continued to succeed as a family business because we are part of the community and the personal relationships we build with families endures throughout the generations. Anderson Maguire Funeral Directors was founded in 1982 by Dominic Maguire. It is one of the top three independent family run funeral directors in Scotland with eleven branches throughout Glasgow and a head office in Hamilton Street, Glasgow. Throughout its 33 years in operation, it has remained a steadfastly independent, family owned and run business. Dominic Maguire shares his thoughts on what it means to be a family business and how family values are an integral part of what they are all about. Statistics prove that approximately 62% of Funeral Directors in the UK are still owned and managed by families and I believe that figure will remain high for many generations due to the nature of the service we provide. Anderson Maguire has a special legacy to the people of Glasgow and the communities we work in. Everyone who works for Anderson Maguire is part of the family and we have a staff culture of providing a caring and compassionate service. Many employees’ families have enjoyed several generations of parents, children, spouses, siblings and cousins working with Anderson Maguire. Keeping a stable and extremely reliable workforce has long been a core strength of our company, with many employees having worked with Anderson Maguire for more than 15 years. Apart from excellent employee loyalty, we have continued to succeed as a family business because we are part of the community and the personal relationships we build with families endures throughout the generations. By doing what we do very well through our inherent empathy with our clients, we have built a loyalty to our family business and it is the backbone of our success. We have and will continue to eschew the takeover by the large, faceless corporate companies who may provide a reasonably good service but cannot provide the level of personalisation we give to everyone who comes to us at their time of need. Although we are very progressive in continually evolving, we strongly adhere to our ethos that personal contact is paramount to maintaining excellent client relationships. We deliver what we promise and it is this commitment which has helped insulate Anderson Maguire from low-cost competitors. Our core strengths are: We care about our clients and their families – we know them personally and we are interested in them, building strong and lasting relationships We provide a unique client experience – if it matters to you, it matters to us We don’t just provide a funeral service – our ongoing support is why we have such a high level of client loyalty. Anderson Maguire is a company which, in an increasingly aggressive commercial environment, punches well above its weight. As a Glasgow based family business employing over 50 local people, our success is not rocket science; it is quite simply through providing the best personal service we can to our clients at one of the most critical times in their lives. Visit www.andersonmaguire.co.uk to find out more

Arjan Stephens was named one of ‘Business in Vancouver’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2012.’ He’s the second generation of the Nature’s Path organic foods company, a business he says was ‘founded on a hope and a dream.’ The business is still driven by those same values 30 years later. Now it’s turnover is over $300 million a year and selling into over 50 countries. “We want Nature’s Path to be a sustainable business in every sense – both financially and environmentally. My parents’ vision was always to leave the earth better than they found it, which is why we still work to the triple bottom line: people, planet and profit.” There’s another ‘p’ too, which is passion. “My parents had this enormous passion to make organic food accessible to everyone. I remember growing up, seeing them struggling to get the business off the ground, going with them to trade shows, and helping with really basic things like sticking labels on boxes.” But Arjan didn’t originally intend to follow his parents into the business at all. After a degree in history, Arjan was looking at the possibility of a Masters when a conversation with his mentor proved to be a lightbulb moment: “He said to me, your parents are doing great things with the business, and they’re not doing all that just in order to sell it to the highest bidder. They’d much prefer to get their family involved – why don’t you give it a try?” “So I did. I started in operations, then product management, and somewhere along the line I found the same passion for the business that my parents had. I could see how what they were doing was translating into a better future for people and the environment, and I really wanted to be part of that.” After an MBA in Chicago. Arjan returned to the business full time, and took on his first solo project – setting up a new factory in Mississauga, Ontario. “We had to get this plant off the ground in six months, and we had less than a $1 million budget, but it proved to me that if you have a dedicated, experienced team who can rise to a challenge you really can make things happen. Since then I’ve worked on our new export business to the UK, and then on sales, innovation, and our strategic plan.” That plan was developed during the economic downturn. It was a tough time for the business, because consumers were spending less and less on premium food products, and at the same time the price of organic commodities was rising. “But because we’re a family business we could take a longer view and stay true to our values. We basically said, look, we believe in organics no matter what. And because of that, consumers know that our brand is authentic – that we stand for what we believe. That set us up for the new strategic plan and the next phase of growth, and we basically doubled in the last five to six years.” Since then Nature’s Path has expanded beyond its core category of breakfast products with the acquisition of Que Pasa Mexican Foods. “This was a significant change in direction, and it was also a challenge integrating it into our business and aligning everyone to it, and communicating it. That’s part of a much bigger challenge of making sure you reinforce your values as you grow. How you stay nimble, and entrepreneurial, and pioneering.” “When you grow from $10 million to say $100 million you probably still know all your team members and have the same family atmosphere. But when you get to $300 million, you suddenly have 600 employees, some of them 4,000 miles away. How do you ensure that the working culture is still what you want it to be?” So what’s the next road for Nature’s Path, and how is the digital revolution affecting their business model? “The thing about digital is that you can’t afford to be complacent, because sooner or later someone will come up with an idea and suddenly the whole market has changed. Organic food was the disruptor once so I know what it means. One thing we’re looking at is customization. Lego have done it, and Nike have done it – allowing consumers to create their own personalized versions of their products online. In theory, we could do it too – customized granola mixes for example. But at the moment the sums don’t add up.” “It would cost too much to be a competitive option for people. We’re innovative in other ways too. I’d really like to adapt our business model by starting up an incubator for other entrepreneurs with similar values, which would sit alongside our main business. We could mentor them, and give them start-up funding, and if they’re successful we could either buy them out or spin them off. I’m really interested in doing that.” This insight was part of The Next Generation of Family Business Leaders published by PwC. It has been reproduced with their permission.

Started 30 years ago, Luxasia is Asia’s leading distributor and retailer of beauty products where two of the founder’s children have now taken on roles in the family firm. Luxasia has a string of joint ventures with some of the world’s biggest beauty companies, including LVMH, Coty, Elizabeth Arden and Yves Rocher. The company was started 30 years ago, and now two of the founder’s children work in the firm – his son Alwyn, and his daughter Sabrina. Sabrina Chong started out practising as a lawyer at Baker & Mackenzie but after several years in corporate law, she wanted to expand her skillset into finance. Juggling work and study was already tricky with the long hours as a corporate lawyer, but she wanted to learn the ropes of the business. So when her father offered her the chance to work in the family firm, she agreed and split her time for two years between work at the law firm, the family business and getting her Masters in Accounting. After the two years, she fell in love with the beauty industry and decided to join the family business full time to expand the business. Some family firms are finding it a challenge to adapt and change and embrace the potential of digital technology, but you can’t say that of Luxasia. “We are constantly reminded that we needed to be insecure, especially in a fast-moving consumer goods market like beauty products. Digital is transforming the business model of our industry, and especially the role of the distributor. We have a huge advantage being located where we are because it gives us access to many dynamic markets. Not just China but India and the rest of South-East Asia. We offer international brands a proven platform to reach these consumers who are avid for their products.” “That said, the old style distributors in our region are struggling. So if you don’t adapt, you won’t survive. I believe the answer is to integrate either vertically or horizontally, and we’ve decided we have to do both – increasing our platform geographically and integrating downwards, into owning our customers and channels.” There’s a conventional retail aspect to that strategy, with the upmarket Essentials store chain, but increasingly it’s a digital platform as well. Luxasia has invested in various beauty-related technology companies, strengthened its systems, invested in training and education and upskilled its talent, to enable it to add value to its partners and consumers. Sabrina believes their family business model has actually helped them make these bold decisions. “Things can move at a faster pace in a family firm – proposals can get debated and approved faster, and the board and management work together as one. The beauty of a family business is the trust you have – the ability to be completely at one with each other. We get the whole leadership team together several times a year to brainstorm ideas and challenge ourselves on the strategy and direction. My father is very open to those new ideas – he’s always up to date with the latest technology, and constantly challenging us to come up with new ways of doing things.” So does Sabrina see herself taking over from her father one day? “At the moment, the more important task is getting our teams aligned towards where the company is going, and ensuring that we protect our values as we grow. It’s about who’s best for the job, and that might well be an external leader. The company has always been professionally managed and we are upscaling our teams as we push forward with our expansion plans. It’s about meritocracy – that’s the only way the company is going to be a success. You can’t put a family member in a CEO role unless they’re the best person to take that role.” “But am I ambitious? Of course I am, and I want to leave a legacy for my children. But that legacy doesn’t have to be in the form of the business, because who knows what it will look like in 10 or 15 years’ time. The more important legacy is the values we have as a family –that’s the gift we can pass on.”

Justin Burgess is the fifth generation of the Burgess family to take the helm and spoke to Paul Andrews about his journey. J.J. Burgess & Sons was founded as Funeral Directors in 1839 by James Burgess, however the family’s business roots in the Hatfield community can be traced to 1700 when the family were clock makers, beehive makers and timber dealers. The family business of Funeral Directors was passed through the generations and has developed through the years to the business that it is today. As Justin explains, “We strive as a family business to provide a personal service where we aim to use our skills and knowledge in the funeral profession to give the help and comfort needed at the time of a death.” “I am the fifth generation of my family to run the business and I guess it was a bit of a fait accompli when I joined. I did lots of other things but always migrated back to where my heart was and although my brother stepped into my Dads shoes, it was not right for him so I helped out over a summer with my Mum and 24 years later I am still here!” “As we are a family business and have to come to terms with our own family bereavements we feel that we are aware of the needs of people when they come into our office. We are proud to have been part of the local community for over 175 years. The family name brings with it quality service, caring staff and compassion for those who need it which is unsurpassed in the Hertfordshire area,” adds Justin. Irrespective of the sector in which the business operates, speaking to family business owners in all areas of business, from funerals to manufacturing, food production to financial services and transport, there is a common passion and inevitably, ‘family business is in the blood and certainly gets under the skin.” As Justin explains, “Family business gets under the skin, I love it and I guess like most family businesses owners, you have to love it to continue to do it successfully and introduce the necessary changes to help the business evolve over time too.” “Dad took the business to a level and I have been allowed to take it to the next stage, but as a business, we operate in a very traditional sector, so making step changes in development is not easy,” he adds. As an integral part of the business is Burgess Memorials, an established family owned stonemasonary business founded in 1839. As Justin explains, “We pride ourselves on offering a personal service to help choose an appropriate and fitting memorial for a loved one that will stand as a lasting act of remembrance. We offer a wide range of memorials which we can get engraved and erect as well as providing maintenance, repairs and cleaning services for existing memorials.” As statistics show, passing on the business to the next generation can be tricky and with less than 10% of family firms making it to the third generation, J.J. Burgess & Sons are in somewhat of a special group of family firms. As a fifth generation family run business, Justin is rightly proud of what the family has achieved, and continues to achieve and in his own words is “remarkably proud of the journey that the family and the business have been on. I am immensely proud, which I know can sound a little ‘naff’ but the pride courses through my veins and I get a real buzz every morning when I unlock the door and turn on the lights and see the pictures of previous generations staring back at me.” “It is a real honour and a privilege to do something I love and that my father, grandfather, great grandfather and great, great grandfather did before me. Don’t get me wrong – running a fifth generation family business is not easy and comes with certain responsibilities. With a history like ours I truly feel that I am the custodian of the business for the next generation and certainly don’t want it all to fall apart under my watch.” Justin has two boys, one just completing University and the other at sixth form and as yet it is not clear where their future lie. As Justin explains, “I would love them to come into the business at some stage, and they do help me out during the holidays. As I never got to work in the business with my father it is a real bonus for me when the boys are around.” “Going forward, I try not to put them under any pressure about coming into the business and want them to make their own way in the world. If they ultimately decide they want to take it on , that has to be up to them and in their hearts they need to love it as much, if not more than I do!” J.J. Burgess & Sons have been serving their community for generations and as such this provides the family with great pride. Not only do they have a passion for what they do, and have been doing for over 175 years, but as Justin concludes, “We can never take it for granted especially as anyone walking through the door is entrusting us to ‘look after the most precious thing they own’ at an emotionally difficult time too. It is an honour to provide comfort and to serve the local community, and like generations before me, to make a real difference each and every day too.”

Family firms used to be the backbone of the High Street and thankfully some survive today. Find out about the second generation family owned butchers renowned for the Bassett Banger! Founded in 1985, by professional butcher Keith Crump and wife Jean, K & EJ Crump & Son continues under the leadership of the next generation, Andy, remaining a family butcher who know one thing above all else – that their customers are number one! A quintessentially British family butchers, no other butcher strives harder to be the best traditional butcher in the Swindon area and the quality and excellence of their meats mean customers return time and time again. Like all family businesses there is a story to tell, and K & EJ Crump & Son is no different. Thirty years ago Keith and Jean Crump took a detour on their way home to Oxfordshire. The couple, who had spent months scouring Devon and Cornwall in vain for the perfect village shop to house their family butcher’s, fancied a brief break from the road. Driving down Wootton Bassett High Street a ‘for sale’ sign caught their attention. The town centre has changed beyond recognition since that fateful day in 1985 but despite the crushing march of supermarket giants, the business remains a welcome constant for legions of loyal customers. “Obviously it was fate” says Andy Crump, 49, who took over the family business when his late father Keith retired in 1999. “I came back in 1988 and that’s where I’ve been ever since.” says Andy. “My dad retired in 1999. I was 34 and I was thrown in at the deep end. It was a big challenge. My dad had an aura about him. Everybody loved mum and dad and it was a big role to fill.” “Butchering has had its testing moments. It’s not the easiest profession to be in. I can be here at 4am, get the window displays ready, and start prepping for the day. It’s quite long hours. At least 65 per cent of the work is done behind the scenes. Everything is homemade. We make the sausages on Wednesdays and Fridays and it takes three people four hours to make 750lb of sausages! We have 26 kinds at any one time on display. If I didn’t enjoy it I wouldn’t still be in the game.” K & E J Crump & Son counts six full-time staff including Andy and four part-time employees. Since its inception, the business has won 14 gold and eight silver medals and the Bassett Banger ‘dreamt up’ by Keith remains a firm favourite in the town. The store sells ten times as many of these as any other variety. Over the last 30 years, the going has been tough for independent shopkeepers on the nation’s High Streets. Contending with large supermarkets has proven challenging at the best of times for the Crumps but the business continues to thrive. “Over the years there has been a massive decline in independent butchers. And our actual trade pattern has changed dramatically but we go with the flow. You always get competition from supermarkets. You’ve only got to look at the High Streets, so many shops are closed, it’s frightening. But we are supplying something different from supermarkets – we have the quality. Our goal is to continue to do what we’re doing, improve and increase trade. There is a place for shops like ours on the High Street. That’s what has stood us in good stead for 30 years.” “Above all, we would love to thank all our loyal customers both past and present” concludes Andy. High Streets across the UK would not be the same without the independent, family owned retailers that continue to trade, like Crumps but they need continued support from the local communities to ensure their survival. Crumps is a true gem of a family firm, quintessentially Briitsh and putting the customer first. Passion and belief in the quality of their products, not to mention innovations such as the Bassett Banger have helped, and hopefully we will continue to see them in Wootton Bassett for generations to come.

A home-made success story: Organic growth and organic food in the US is the mantra behind successful family business, Amy’s Kitchen. It would be hard to find a better example of what a family firm can achieve than Amy’s Kitchen. In 30 years, Rachel and Andy Berliner have gone from making food in a small kitchen to fund their daughter’s college fees, to owning and managing a multi-million dollar organic food business that’s so successful it doesn’t even need to advertise. It’s a business that began with passion and principles, and those two things still inspire it today. “It started when I was cooking for Rachel when she was pregnant with Amy,” says Andy. “We were passionate about organic food, and I didn’t have the time to cook things from scratch so I just wanted to buy good-quality convenience food. But I couldn’t find it – not even in the health-food store. And we said to ourselves, there must be people like us out there who want the same as we do. People who’d buy home-made organic and natural ready-meals that actually tasted great. So we made one product, just to test it out. It was a vegetable pot pie. That’s where it all started – with a vegetable pot pie.” Within a few months, that pot pie was being stocked in health-food stores across the US, and the Berliners started to add new lines to the range. “Our hunch about the potential demand was absolutely right,” says Andy. “We’d found a niche that no-one else was catering for. Everybody wanted our products – we’d just send out a fax describing our new lines and the orders came flooding straight back. The business just grew from there – pure organic growth, right from the start. We were growing over 20% a year for the first 20 years.” Thirty years on, Amy is grown up and the business has grown up too: there are more than 230 products and 2,500 staff, production facilities across the US, and a new plant in prospect in Portugal to service the company’s growing export business. And as the company added lines and facilities it added skills to the mix too: “We started with finance,” says Rachel, “then logistics and agricultural. The last to come was marketing, because we’d always enjoyed doing that ourselves. But over the last few years, we’ve built a great marketing team. And as for sales, people join our team and stay for their careers. I think that’s because the people we hire believe in what we’re doing as much as we do. It’s part of the culture of the place.” The business is still growing too, though it’s more like 10% now: “It’s harder to grow as fast as we did in the beginning,” says Andy, “because so many other operators have moved into the same space. But we have such a huge advantage in having been there first and established a brand people really do trust. And we know that the way to keep growing is to keep coming up with new ideas. We have products based on a whole range of international cuisines, made from authentic ingredients by people who grew up eating and loving that food. Nothing makes me happier than when we get an email from a customer saying our food tastes like what their mother used to make. Because that’s the essence of Amy’s Kitchen, right there: authenticity and great taste.” International cuisine has been one route to diversification; international expansion is another. The company already has a presence in Europe, with particular success in the UK, and the next big prospect is India. It’s a huge opportunity, and a completely different one to either the US or UK, but it’s ideally suited to the brand, given the growing middle class and the large proportion of vegetarian consumers. Other companies might find the sheer complexity of the Indian market daunting, but Amy’s Kitchen has always had both the courage and the confidence to back innovative ideas. As Andy explains, their new drive-thru restaurant is a great example: “We were always being contacted by people saying that there was nowhere healthy to take their kids – people who weren’t necessarily vegetarian but didn’t want to feed their children fast food. So we opened an Amy’s, just as a pilot, and it’s been amazing. Sales are twice what we hoped, and it’s generated this incredible following on Facebook. We didn’t even set the site up – it was started by people who ate there and loved it. That’s what the brand has always been about. We’re a big business now, but we’re still just a back kitchen at heart. A much bigger kitchen, with much bigger pots. But we care about what we make and how we make it, and people can tell. You just can’t fake that.” This feature forms part of the PwC Global Family Business Survey 2016. It has been reproduced with permission of PwC.

Jessica Penny from family firm Penny Hydraulics adds her voice to the challenge for manufacturing that needs to do more to fill substantial skills gaps. According to a new study by CV-Library, Engineers are now top of the list of sought after graduates with more than 1,000 jobs available for engineering graduates in the UK, the employment website found. More than ever before, business owners are relying on foreign graduates to fill these gaps. This is often a win-win situation as many graduates see the UK as a place with many excellent career opportunities and UK employers can take advantage of the talents they cannot find in the UK. Many European graduates see the UK as an ideal location to kick start their careers with benefits such as flexible career paths, a vibrant technological and entrepreneurial sector as well as fiscal incentives. As a country we excel in hi-tech industries but we need engineers to make sure the UK stays ahead of our competitors: the rest of the world isn’t standing still, so we must do everything we can to uphold our position as a leading engineering nation. Engineering UK’s annual report finds that engineering businesses have the potential to contribute an extra £27 billion to the UK economy every year from 2022 if we can meet the demand for a quarter of a million new vacancies in the same time-frame. A strong British engineering sector is vital to the long term sustainability of our economic recovery, and increasing the supply of engineers is at the heart of this. With immigration being such a fraught political issue in the UK, it would be unwise to rely solely on immigrants to fill these important roles. To address this issue, Nick Boles, former Minister of State for Skills suggests that anyone with an interest in engineering must all play a part as he comments, “These shortages are compounded by insufficient numbers of young people, especially girls choosing a career in engineering. I am convinced we will only overcome these challenges if all those with an interest in UK engineering commit to greater collaboration and partnership.” In higher education, it has been encouraging to see entrant numbers to all AS level Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects rising by a third over the past ten years, and by 5 per cent between 2013 and 2014 alone. A-level mathematics and physics entrants have also increased significantly in the past decade. These subjects are the first step to a career in engineering, so their increasing popularity is a positive sign. Applications for engineering higher education courses have also increased by 5.5 per cent in the past year, with accepted applicants to engineering rising by 6.8 per cent. STEM subjects are valuable not only because they can lead to exciting, rewarding career options, but also because they enable individuals to be active citizens in an increasingly technological society. STEM subjects open doors, provide options and are vital to the modern age. Most students recognise that science & maths subjects could be useful for getting a good job. However, far fewer feel such jobs are attainable or relevant to them. To add to the problem, the profile of those who do go on to study particular STEM subjects and pursue certain STEM careers is too narrow. Women, working class and some minority ethnic groups remain under-represented in some disciplines and occupations, particularly in engineering. This not only means a pool of potential talent is being lost, but that those industries are missing out on the many benefits of a more diverse workforce. Studies show that these groups tend to have limited exposure to the world of STEM, which those with high levels of exposure generally gaining this through family members’ qualifications, occupations and interests. The greater the level of exposure to STEM, the more likely a student is to study STEM subjects post-16 years of age. If businesses can help engage these young people, it will increase the likelihood of young people from all backgrounds engaging with STEM. With a year-on-year increase from 12 to 19 per cent of firms reporting difficulties in finding suitable graduate recruits, it is clear a skills gap still exists, so those in industry must play their part to make sure the engineers of tomorrow are inspired to pursue a career in engineering. Most companies offer work experience places and apprenticeship schemes but this may not be enough according to Jess Penny, General Manager at lifting equipment manufacturer, Penny Hydraulics Ltd as she comments: “Apprenticeships and work experience placements typically start from the age of 14 years, we need to engage children at a younger age at primary school level.” Manufacturers can assist by liaising with schools to organise class trips to their premises or sending engineers to talk to children to provide real industry role models to give young people insights into STEM-related jobs. There are also a number of national programmes and events that companies can participate in such as Tomorrow’s Engineers, STEMNET and STEM Learning. The real answer may lie in STEM-promoting initiatives between schools and businesses according to Jess. STEM-promoting initiatives attempt to address some key issues such as the current perception of STEM subjects and careers, with both students and educators. Jess comments, “STEM teachers need to feel confident in giving careers advice in manufacturing and engineering. This is a key area where us as manufacturers must work more closely with educators. Where STEM teachers may not feel confident giving careers advice in this area, engineers and manufacturers have the opportunity to fill the gap, giving pupils a deeper understanding of what is involved in STEM careers, and what steps they need to take if they want to pursue them.” Businesses co-delivering activities such as careers workshops alongside teaching staff, can help develop the knowledge of staff and students. Teacher placement schemes in business, business-led workshops or open days for teachers can also help teaching staff better understand the STEM careers landscape and advise students appropriately. By supporting teachers, some of whom – particularly at primary level, may not be science specialists, business can help them have the confidence to teach STEM-related topics in creative and inspiring ways, and to promote STEM as a career path to their students. Involvement in female specific campaigns such as National Women in Engineering Day organised by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) and Women in Science, Technology and Engineering (WISE), inspires girls and women to study and build careers in STEM and offer organisations advice on how to create environments where those women can do their best work and thrive. WISE state one of their core aims as “driving economic growth by working with employers to boost the talent pool from classroom to boardroom.” This is desperately needed as according to Engineering UK, the UK has Lowest Number of Female Engineers in Whole of Europe. Peter Jackson, Chief Executive of Engineering UK supports this stating, “We need a step rather than incremental change in the number of women entering the engineering profession in the UK if we are to meet the future global technological challenges that lie ahead.” Connecting business and education by the use of local economic partnerships between schools and employers using recently retired executives as enterprise advisers to bridge the gap between employers and schools is an idea from the Secretary of State for Education. Enterprise advisers would have knowledge of local business but also the time to help out, since they would be retired rather than engaging in day-to-day business activities themselves. Schools would be free to find their own advisers meaning they could find an appropriate fit for their school. The existing STEM Ambassadors programme enables anyone of any age working in a STEM-related job to engage with schools to encourage and promote STEM industries. Ambassadors not only work with young people to increase engagement with STEM subjects, but also help teachers by explaining current applications of STEM in industry. We believe that teachers are crucial in developing and inspiring young people to become the scientists and engineers of the future. But there is a much wider role that we can all play in helping teachers to make STEM-related subjects more engaging by opening young people’s eyes to their relevance to themselves and their own lives.

Tackling conflict head-on and taking a no-holes barred approach to its resolution can lead to life enhancing benefits within the family business. To fight or flee? That is the question. Harvard psychologist, Walter Cannon, explained that we have a genetic wisdom hardwired into our brains to protect ourselves from harm at all costs. So, we flee when we can: a predisposition readily seen in the family firm. In my interviews with several family businesses, the most often heard statements related to conflict are: “We tend not to get into it…” “Some things are better left unsaid…” or “I couldn’t possibly tell them how I feel; the family will fall apart”. But the irony is, the longer things go unsaid, the more likely the family is to suffer irreparable breakdown and that’s when the impact on the business can be catastrophic. Studies reveal that family firms tend to deal with internal conflict by adopting one of five approaches: Avoidance Accommodation Competition Compromise Collaboration. I find the tendency is for the majority of families to either avoid conflict altogether, for fear of reprisal, to postpone a crisis for as long as possible or to accommodate each other in order to maintain friendly relations. This may be because families in business have to simultaneously deal with a variety of relationships encompassing both personal family matters and business matters. It may also be because families in business hold multiple roles; within the family group a sibling, cousin, parent or offspring, might also be a CEO, chairman or executive director. No wonder then, that in such a unique and often fraught structure, the complex, sometimes tense family landscape is likely to be dotted with potentially lethal minefields. And, while most families see internal conflict as being unpleasant, even ‘destructive’ and usually as ‘bad’ what they seldom see is that healthy debate, admitting to conflict head-on, is the obvious way to relieve it. So families, our research tells us, tend to ‘avoid’ and ‘accommodate’ rather than enter the dangerous seas of debate and argument. The tendency to pacify is overwhelming, albeit that such tendencies may lead to bottled-up emotions and pent-up feelings. Unresolved conflict, worse unspoken conflict, is a pressure cooker and the avoidance of ‘debate’ or, if you will, ‘argument’, jams the safety valve closed; inevitably an explosion will occur and often the damage done is greater than if the pressure had been relieved in a controlled and sensible way. If avoidance is ‘usual’, then I would argue that the best way to support families in business is to teach them how to fight, in a healthy way, of course! This begins with presenting the possibility to them, that conflict can be viewed as “good” and “constructive”, not as ‘bad’ and ‘destructive.’ For many, locked in the throes of family variance, where business and emotional responses are inexorably confused, such an idea can be a revelation. A healthy, open attitude to conflict, allows us to recognise ‘difference’ and to make the important distinction between being ‘different’ and being ‘antagonistic’. If handled correctly, this approach will allow families in business to emerge from their conflict with renewed understanding and acceptance of each other and their individual personalities, problems and needs. But How Does A Family Set About This? How do they make the quantum leap from sullen resentment and suppressed anger, to open and articulate argument? First of all, they do not attempt to address the conflict themselves. They find a facilitator who is skilled in conflict management nothing that a good facilitator should provide a safe environment, gather everyone’s expectations prior to commencement of debate and help to co-draft “rules of engagement.” And a good facilitator will start by defining the problem with all key players involved and/or affected by conflict. Without a common definition or agreement about what the issue actually is, there is little hope of finding a solution. Only when the family understand what they are in conflict about, can we move on to resolve it. Finding this definition will require certain rules to be laid down by the facilitator, of which giving each side a chance to express themselves and each a chance to listen, is central. A facilitator will ask opposing factions to be prepared to agree to disagree and will request that round table talks should be, above all, open, honest and rational. To that end, he or she will request that extreme language (“You always…” and “I never…”) is avoided, and she/he will achieve consensus that interruptions and quick retorts are not acceptable, nor is personal criticism. The facilitator’s aim is to attempt to change the attitude of the family by discussion, suggestion and nuance – the goal being to change the fixed mindset, centred round the ‘I win – You lose’ syndrome. They will introduce more rational concepts where debate and the acceptance of another’s right to hold their own opinion prevail, eventually leading to the point where the facilitator can find a compromise acceptable to all parties. Along the route to this end, the facilitator will doubtless encounter the need to ask the family to listen and reflect. These two, simple words are key concepts. They may appear trite but their neglect lies at the heart of most conflict in family business. Central to the facilitator’s skill is the awareness of the ‘behaviours’ that indicate change and the ability to steer the family to the realisation that they can compromise. Compromise is the goal and what the family must realise is that compromise is not a failure or a battle lost; rather it is a mark of success and maturity. The achievement of reaching such a compromise is for the good of the family and also for the common good, i.e. it is to the benefit of all members of the family, and to the firm’s workforce, suppliers, customers and even the local community. To reach this end the facilitator will have to introduce the family group to the importance of certain ‘negotiating’ skills, including the need for each family member to become aware of matters as basic as body language and eye contact and the slightly more difficult art of listening, retaining and mentally ‘playing back’ what is heard. This, to be certain that family members develop the skill to listen to what has been said and not merely to assume that if “‘such and such’ said this, then he must have meant that!” The successful facilitator will also warn of the dangers, and actively discourage the desire, to form coalitions. Coalitions within the family are notoriously divisive, invariably lead to greater upset and typically create ‘victims’ and ‘bullies.’ Most family firms have within them, one or two members who hold onto entrenched views and any threat to these views are perceived as a threat to individual identity. Understanding this can breed willingness to compromise, on all sides. Above all, the facilitator will lead the family to face the specific issue at the heart of the conflict; to define the problem and separate it from other disagreements about which there may also be ill-feeling. (Other issues can be acknowledged but we should move on and set them aside for another time. They mustn’t impact upon the issues in hand). If this is the role, some might say the art, of the skilled negotiator, what of the family? Can they develop similar skills for themselves? Of course, but our experience shows that even when such skills are learnt, they are seldom as effective as when instigated by a third party – the impartial and professional outsider. However, if the family is to fully benefit from the introduction of an independent mediator then they need to work with that facilitator wholeheartedly and be fully committed to making the process work. To achieve successful resolution, the family need to cooperate with the facilitator and they need to adopt a simple set of rules. In most cases of conflict in family firms, people simply want to be heard…and genuinely heard. They want to be understood. They want their feelings to be validated. They want to feel they count. Often in family firms, there are perceived imbalances of power, whether related to shareholdings, positions in the business or generational positions in the family. So, it is critically important that all family business members are perceived as “equal” in a conflict management setting. A most effective way of enforcing this equality is to have family business members complete psychometric questionnaires which reflect their psychological orientations. This allows members to understand others’ views of the world rather than assuming others are deliberately trying to make their life a misery. In summary, family firms should be encouraged to see conflict as a “tool” for enriching ideas, plans and relationships, indeed for seeing their business ambitions fulfilled in their entirety. The degree of ‘bad’ conflict we see in such firms, is often directly proportional to the amount of time the embryonic conflict has been avoided. The essential lesson therefore, is don’t let things fester. When conflict arises, tackle it immediately and head-on before it grows into something uncontrollable. Above all, benefit from the experience and use the opportunity to get to know each other better and to cement closer relationships, to clear away negative and destructive undercurrents and to build for the future by resolving the problem together. When conflict is tackled head on, families not only learn to manage complex systems of relationships, but more importantly, they will develop more attractive growth environments for the generations to come. In other words, families who bite the conflict bullet and take action, such as bringing in the professional outsider to arbitrate, are more likely to survive and prosper, than those who don’t.

The drive for innovation features across each of the three Keeling generations; from fruit growing and glasshouse production, to the wholesale business, to a large international portfolio company. In 1926, the grandparents of the current Keeling siblings began growing rhubarb on their land in St. Margaret’s, Fingal, North County Dublin. Soon the family were producing apples, strawberries and tomatoes and exporting flower bulbs to the UK. Throughout the 1940’s, the business operated as a small farm producer, selling their products at the Dublin Fruit market. The second generation became involved and son, Joe Keeling, established Keelings wholesale in 1973. From growing own produce, Keelings transitioned to buying from growers, both nationally and globally, and selling to independent retailers and the services and catering industries. In the 1980’s, the farm expanded and Keelings became a fresh food supplier for national supermarkets including Dunnes Stores and Quinnsworth. Supermarket retail gradually overtook the wholesale side and their product range expanded. Keelings is an exemplar of rapid expansion; from its humble beginnings the company now boasts five divisions, imports from 42 countries, and operates in European, Asian and African markets. Family Involvement Despite the company’s expansion, the family remains largely involved in management and ownership. Joe Keeling remains in the business as Chairman. His daughter, Caroline is CEO and part of her overall management is developing Keelings Solutions, the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) facet of the business. Joe’s son, William, is property director and oversees the businesses in the UK. His other son, David leads the retail side from FoodCentral. David had this to say on the sibling-manager dynamic: “I think it has worked very well that we’ve tended to have our own areas that we’ve worked in and developed.” Family governance is an important feature of Keelings which has a family charter in place and holds shareholder meetings four times a year. The separation of family and business issues is clearly defined: “We’ve got a business that has over 2,000 staff so it’s very important that it’s run as a business and not as a family.” Process Innovation In Family Business The drive for innovation features across each of the three Keeling generations; from fruit growing and glasshouse production, to the wholesale business, to a large international portfolio company. “It’s a combination of many people’s ideas and hard work and then we probably make particularly quick decisions. We’re relatively entrepreneurial,” says David. Keelings lead the way in pioneering processes for fruit production in Ireland. “The drive for innovation comes from the pressure from consumers and retailers to continually get better every time.” In the 1980’s, Joe Keeling requested daily data on company profi ts which led to the development of the Keelings ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system software. This incremental innovation was developed over 30 years and in 2011, Keelings Solutions was established and the software came on the market. This division sells industry-focused solutions in stock management, sales and procurement management, warehouse and production planning, quality assurance and food safety management. Their experience of food production formed a sound basis for their progression into system management: “We’re not just selling our system; we’re selling our expertise and how to run a produce business”. Keelings has made strides in infrastructural innovation, opening Ireland’s National Food Park, FoodCentral, in 2010. “We just looked at our site and could see there were a number of benefits in being located where we are”. This 113 hectare food industry park is ideally located, in proximity to Dublin Airport, Port Tunnel and M50 motorway. One of the company’s major developments was their state-of-the-art glasshouses that extend the growing season from March to December. Keelings provide a significant percentage of all Irish-grown peppers. “It’s very often run on the basis of what’s good for the business. That’s the key to success for the business as well as having a lot of very good people,” concludes David Keelings.