Thanks to the Smith Family Business Initiative, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Global Families in Business Conference at Harvard Business School this past weekend. It was amazing to hear about the inspiring journeys, receive practical advice, and make connections with those passionate about the family business space.
Impactful Stories
Some of the panels featured speakers with truly inspiring family business journeys. Angelica Visconti and Emanuele Visconti of the Ferragamo family told us about the incredible journey of how Salvatore Ferragamo’s custom shoe-making business expanded to the iconic, worldwide brand it is today.
Angelica Visconti specifically recounted how her grandmother and the six Ferragamo children took on the immense task of managing the family business. Both she and Emanuele Visconti also explained the process of diversifying the Ferragamo family business into real estate and hospitality and how the family introduced outside executives to the company.
Candid Advice and Conversations
The conference also featured a lot of candid conversations. The panel on Family Office Planning focused on the importance of succession planning and passing the torch between the “now-gen” and “next-gen” within a family. Specifically, the panelists discussed ways to get the next generation invested in the family business, from having them take a more active role, to creating an entrepreneurship trust.
Bill Ford, executive chair of Ford Motor Company, explained the importance of relationship building within the family business. He recounted how the trust built between his family and numerous stakeholders allowed the company to both weather economic headwinds and electrify some of the company’s most iconic vehicles.
Importantly, he talked about family governance, specifically his belief that members should be required to spend time outside the firm to accomplish something independently of the business.
Connecting and Networking with fellow MBAs in Family Business
Most importantly, I had the opportunity to connect with MBA students from Boston University, MIT Sloan, Yale School of Management, HBS, and Stanford who were all involved in their family businesses.
These enterprises spanned multiple industries, ranging from retail to industrial manufacturing. The conference provided a space for us to talk about different aspects of our own family businesses and the challenges we’ve had to overcome, whether we were part of a first-generation family business or the 4th generation.
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