Family Business Blog
Oct 19, 2010
Family Business Australia – National Conference 2010
The 2010 National FBA conference was a resounding success and another fantastic opportunity for families from around Australia to meet and learn from each other. Among the many outstanding presentations here are a few that caught my eye…
Marcus Blackmore, founder and current Chairman of the publicly listed Blackmores Ltd (www.blackmores.com.au) spoke of the journey the company (founded by his father in the 1940’s) has travelled.
A passionate business leader, he spoke of the importance of culture in an organisation and how it drives performance. Marcus shared the values of his business which are encapsulated in the acronym PIRLS – • Passion • Integrity • Respect • Leadership & • Social Responsibility As an example of the way that his organisation values its people, Marcus compared the effort an organisation will put into managing its relationship with an employee with that applied to managing a $1M loan. He believes that in financial terms they both cost about the same, yet management attention is often quite different. • Wage $45,000 plus on costs (say 1/3) = $60,000 pa • Loan $1,000,000 at 6% interest = $60,000 pa As he put it, ‘is it fair to say that each person we have on the floor is a $1,000,000 investment by our company?’ Unfortunately, says Marcus, ‘the value of people to an organisation doesn’t appear on its Balance Sheet’.
Some of the lessons he draws from his many years in the business world boil down to 3 P’s – People, Product and Passion.
Craig Willson, his daughter Rebecca (Chief Winemaker), son-in-law Tom Keelan and CEO Mark Ashenden from Bremerton Wines (www.bremerton.com.au) spoke about the succession planning process they undertook.
Coming from a Public Company background, Craig highlighted the importance of Bremerton’s board, which includes an independent chairman, non-executive directors and a non-family CEO. He spoke of how the independent Board has helped them deal with some tough issues which involved making some difficult decisions.
Some of the lessons that the family have learned along the way include the importance of – • Passion • Planning • Communication Interestingly, though Craig believed that both of his 30 something daughters were capable of filling the role of CEO, their role as mothers of young families took precedence over business leadership. It sounds like Bremerton Wines is a family business that has its focus on the family side of the equation and long term sustainability.
The Hawkins Family (www.hawkinstpt.com.au) offered another insight into family business succession. This diverse 4th Generation business, operates in the transport (Hawkins Transport), tourism (Moreton Island Ferries) and fuel distribution (Hawkins Fuels) industries. With a turnover in excess of $50M and 135 employees, three sisters Roslyn, Kerry and Anne bought out their parents in 2006. This is an interesting dynamic as the businesses operate in very much, male dominated industries.
Again the message was around the professionalisation of the family business, the separation of the family and the business and the challenge of dealing with change.
An interesting sideline is that following his retirement from the role of CEO their father now regards himself as a ‘grey nomad who gets paid’. Rather than a caravan, his trailer is a highly flammable fuel tanker that he drives four, five or six days a week to a mining site.
It can only happen in a family business!
Other fascinating stories were told by –• the Plarre Family, (www.fergusonplarre.com.au) who spoke of how they have adapted their bakery business to meet the greenhouse challenge
• Michael McQueen of Nexgen Group (www.thenexgengroup.com) who provided a fascinating insight into managing generational differences in a family business and
• A great panel session titled ‘Structuring to Sustain’ in which three representatives from different family businesses discussed how they operate as 2nd, 3rd and 4th generationbusinesses.
All in all, this was certainly one of the best FBA conferences to date and I can only recommend that you get the full experience yourself by attending the 2011 conference. If you want further insights into the conference please get in touch with us.
Marcus Blackmore, founder and current Chairman of the publicly listed Blackmores Ltd (www.blackmores.com.au) spoke of the journey the company (founded by his father in the 1940’s) has travelled.
A passionate business leader, he spoke of the importance of culture in an organisation and how it drives performance. Marcus shared the values of his business which are encapsulated in the acronym PIRLS – • Passion • Integrity • Respect • Leadership & • Social Responsibility As an example of the way that his organisation values its people, Marcus compared the effort an organisation will put into managing its relationship with an employee with that applied to managing a $1M loan. He believes that in financial terms they both cost about the same, yet management attention is often quite different. • Wage $45,000 plus on costs (say 1/3) = $60,000 pa • Loan $1,000,000 at 6% interest = $60,000 pa As he put it, ‘is it fair to say that each person we have on the floor is a $1,000,000 investment by our company?’ Unfortunately, says Marcus, ‘the value of people to an organisation doesn’t appear on its Balance Sheet’.
Some of the lessons he draws from his many years in the business world boil down to 3 P’s – People, Product and Passion.
Craig Willson, his daughter Rebecca (Chief Winemaker), son-in-law Tom Keelan and CEO Mark Ashenden from Bremerton Wines (www.bremerton.com.au) spoke about the succession planning process they undertook.
Coming from a Public Company background, Craig highlighted the importance of Bremerton’s board, which includes an independent chairman, non-executive directors and a non-family CEO. He spoke of how the independent Board has helped them deal with some tough issues which involved making some difficult decisions.
Some of the lessons that the family have learned along the way include the importance of – • Passion • Planning • Communication Interestingly, though Craig believed that both of his 30 something daughters were capable of filling the role of CEO, their role as mothers of young families took precedence over business leadership. It sounds like Bremerton Wines is a family business that has its focus on the family side of the equation and long term sustainability.
The Hawkins Family (www.hawkinstpt.com.au) offered another insight into family business succession. This diverse 4th Generation business, operates in the transport (Hawkins Transport), tourism (Moreton Island Ferries) and fuel distribution (Hawkins Fuels) industries. With a turnover in excess of $50M and 135 employees, three sisters Roslyn, Kerry and Anne bought out their parents in 2006. This is an interesting dynamic as the businesses operate in very much, male dominated industries.
Again the message was around the professionalisation of the family business, the separation of the family and the business and the challenge of dealing with change.
An interesting sideline is that following his retirement from the role of CEO their father now regards himself as a ‘grey nomad who gets paid’. Rather than a caravan, his trailer is a highly flammable fuel tanker that he drives four, five or six days a week to a mining site.
It can only happen in a family business!
Other fascinating stories were told by –• the Plarre Family, (www.fergusonplarre.com.au) who spoke of how they have adapted their bakery business to meet the greenhouse challenge
• Michael McQueen of Nexgen Group (www.thenexgengroup.com) who provided a fascinating insight into managing generational differences in a family business and
• A great panel session titled ‘Structuring to Sustain’ in which three representatives from different family businesses discussed how they operate as 2nd, 3rd and 4th generationbusinesses.
All in all, this was certainly one of the best FBA conferences to date and I can only recommend that you get the full experience yourself by attending the 2011 conference. If you want further insights into the conference please get in touch with us.
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