Ingredients For A Successful Family Biz
PHOTO/RON BOULEY
Robert Sigel, the keynote speaker at the 2009 Central Mass. Family Business Awards.
When it comes to negotiating the complexities of a family-owned business, communication is key, according to Robert Sigel, the keynote speaker at Thursday night's Family Business Awards, produced by the Worcester Business Journal.
"Communicate openly and candidly," he said. "Get all the issues out."
The former president and CEO of Worcester-based Millbrook Distribution Services shared many of the lessons he learned, first as a hot shot college graduate coming into the business, and later, as the successor to his father.
"When sons come into the business, they want to move things along," he said, recalling his own period of youthful exuberance.
Sigel addressed the crowd that came to honor seven local family firms selected by the WBJ for their business acumen and community commitment. The event was held at the Cyprian Keyes Golf Club in Boylston.
Morton Sigel started Millbrook Distribution Services in 1960 and welcomed his son into the business 17 years later. But Robert, fresh out of school and with some consulting experience under his belt, wanted to make a splash in the business. As Robert remembers, his father listened openly to his ideas, but also reminded him that he had run the business successfully for almost two decades before him.
"My father was the reason everything went well," Sigel continued. "He was very patient. He was able to let go of some of the responsibility and, most importantly, he let me make my own mistakes."
Reflecting back on those mistakes, Sigel told the audience of almost 200 that the hardest thing to do is to separate business and family.
"I should've taken a few more minutes out of the day to talk about anything other than the business," he said.
Check out pictures from the event on the WBJ's Flickr page.
The night's seven honorees were:
Creedon & Co., Worcester
Fair & Yeager Insurance, Natick
Ahern Equipment, Spencer
Masterman's, Auburn
Barrett Distribution, Franklin
Dunn & Co./Legacy Publishing, Clinton
Consigli Construction, Milford
WBJ Web Partners
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