Outside Looking in a Family Business

How does the next generation decide whether or not to join their family business? What are the essential variables that affect this decision? At the Asia Pacific Family Business Summit 2021 held on the 20th and 21st of August 2021, Dr. Linda Salim, founder of Daftaro, and a member of the board of directors at her family’s business in Indonesia, shared her story as one of the panelists' for the BinaPavo panel, “Nurturing Harmony in Family Business”.

Dr. Linda’s late father, a businessman who owns a plastic manufacturing business expected Dr. Linda, alongside her sisters would be working in the family business.? After completing her degree, she went on to pursue her Masters and Ph.D. It was their late father’s wishes, that they could return home if they had completed their studies.? When she was in her last semester, her late father urged her to quickly graduate and come home to work for him in the family business.? When she joined the family business, they were in the midst of building their second factory which she was put in charge of.? She was building that factory and at the same time setting it up for the installation of machinery in them.? Two years later she decided to leave the family business to pursue her own dreams which had angered her late father at the time.?

At the time, her family’s priority was for her to work, causing her relationship with her late father to become distant and they were not appreciative of each other. However, she realised that in the end anyone can be her boss but no one can ever replace her late father, so she chose her relationship with him above everything else.? Now, her sister is running the family business and they will consult with each other on a lot of things which is very good for their relationship as well as the growth of the company.? It works well for them even though this was not the original plan their late father had in mind.?

Of course, in the wake of the previous sequence of events, the question asked next was how do you nurture harmony within a family business that has contrasting leadership styles?? As Dr. Linda is not directly involved in her family business; she takes it upon herself to make sure everything is running smoothly and ensuring the family business does not fall apart with an outside perspective on things given to her. She acts as the referee when her parents and sisters are having in moments of conflict and strife. She considers a foundational pillar of trust built between them is the key to a successful family business because if your family has trust issues then there is no point in even starting to mend a problem together as each family member will be tugging in different directions all the time.? Sometimes you forget that you are on the same team as each other even if you have conflicts of interest and differing mindsets. It isn’t a competition, a win for the family business is a win for the family itself.?

When asked on what are the key criteria to a sustainable business,? Dr. Linda went on to say the following...

“Family is first. When you are in the midst of passing your business on to your children, think carefully and analyze if the relationship that you have with each other is good or bad.? As a family, your relationship is already complex but by bringing it into the business it will be a hundred times more complex, as many people are depending on you. Monkey sees monkey does; if your relationship with your parents is not good, how do you expect to have a good one with your children?”?

Patience and wisdom are important attributes, especially for the younger generations.? There is a moment when one needs to press hard, challenge the status quo or even stay quiet and not everyone will be in complete agreement on such things; it is merely the nature of mixing generations.? At the end of the day, a family is still a family no matter the strife and problems, so working together in spite of that is something every member of the family should remember and strive for.??

Source:?Panel Session 1: Nurturing Harmony in Family Business by Dr. Linda Salim, at the?Asia Pacific Family Business Summit 2021 (20 & 21 August 2021)?

Stay tuned and block your calendar for the 2nd Asia Pacific Family Business Summit 2022 on 18th and 19th October 2022 in Kuala Lumpur.