Article published at https://cincodias.elpais.com/
Experts advise having a protocol before the moment of relief, evaluating whether the candidates are really prepared and whether they have worked for other companies.
Since she was little, María Torretta has been very present in her parents’ company, the fashion brand that bears the name of her father, Roberto Torretta. She remembers spending the afternoons in the office and saying as a girl that her future was fashion. But when she turned 18 and had to choose a career, she chose Advertising and Public Relations to be sure if fashion was the path to take or simply an idea that she had had since childhood. “As soon as I graduated, I started coming. Until there was a day when I understood that this was the place I wanted to be and develop my professional career,” he says on the other end of the phone with his father.
In this “organic” incorporation into the family business, they have not followed any protocol nor have they had external advice. “No one knows the business better than my parents and they are the ones who are teaching me to have more responsibility,” he says. For his part, Roberto emphasizes that “it was not something planned,” and he is clearly delighted that the continuity of a brand founded almost 50 years ago is in the hands of his daughter. “If we plan it, it doesn’t turn out any better.”
Despite the Torrettas’ words and good experience, experts consider it essential to have an established succession plan for the process to come to a successful conclusion. In this regard, Pedro León, partner in charge of the family business at KPMG, maintains that “coffee is not for everyone”, because each lineage has its history, and the ideal is to look for “a tailored plan” to deal with an issue that, in general, “is very sensitive”.
For his part, Ramón Alfonso, founding partner of Norz Patrimonia, points out, based on his years of advising on succession processes, that the first step is a somewhat complicated one: “Evaluate if the heirs are really prepared and if they have the capacity to manage the business or the assets.” If the answer is affirmative, what comes next is a stage in which to define the protocol to follow.
The ideal time to talk about generational change is “when things are going well,” considers León. “In the ideal world, it would be perfect for this reflection to be led by the current person in charge with external support. But this does not always happen.” He assures that many families find it difficult to listen to people from outside, even though, in his opinion, independent views help, since they have no personal implications, nor favoritism for one or the other.
“Families that better manage the handover processes have identified the person or people of the next generation with whom to work. And we work with them on what it means to be responsible shareholders and assume a leadership position in front of their siblings, cousins and the rest of the family,” León details about the generational handovers in which he has participated with KPMG.
Define the profile
When choosing the successor, we must also take into account, in León’s words, the challenges that the company faces and, based on them, define the profile. “The leader must be found based on the situation of the business and the family. The same person is probably not suitable to lead in an environment of family conflict or problems in the business, as one to carry out an expansion plan at a time when everything is peace and love within the saga.”
A statement with which Alfonso agrees, who explains that, in addition to technical capabilities and understanding the business, an “emotional” part must be added, since not all people are prepared to assume certain responsibilities. There are those who do not handle pressure well. Both experts also agree when pointing out a characteristic that cannot be missing from the successor, the enthusiasm to take charge of the project. “If the person we are going to assign to take over is not excited about the task, it will not work,” says León.
Excitement is precisely what emerges from the words, and the way of talking about their company, of Beatriz and María, daughters of Carmelo Rodero, founder of the winery of the same name. The first of them, technical director of the firm, always knew that she wanted to dedicate herself to the world of wines. To do this, he studied Agricultural Engineering and then moved to Bordeaux, where he expanded his knowledge of oenology. María, current commercial director, was most interested in the marketing and sales part. “The project started when we were very young. We have been participants in the evolution of the entire process,” she says.
In the case of the Roderos, as in the Torretta family, they have not had “a document as such” that would serve as a roadmap in taking over as head of the company. “Our father, who is still active, has been loosening the rope so that we could fly alone. The tasks have been diversified. We have been in the business for almost two decades, so there have been many years of transition,” explains Beatriz. To which his sister adds that they have always been clear about the philosophy and values of the winery and that, although they have not had a formal roadmap, they have talked about succession and the ideas of all parties have coincided.
sixth generation
The one who has landed in the family business almost without thinking is Alfonso Mato, recently appointed general director of Ansorena. He is the sixth generation of the family that owns the jewelry and art auction firm founded in 1845. “I was not at all sure that I wanted to dedicate myself to the family business. You always think about it, you have it there. But never with that idea or ambition of ending up directing it. In fact, when they proposed it to me it was a complete surprise, because I come from banking, where I have been for more than two decades,” he says.
The proposal to lead Ansorena came to him from the board of directors, which evaluated all possible options, both internal and external. They do have family protocols for these situations, although a replacement has not been carried out for a long time, since Mato is replacing his uncle Jaime, who has been in the position for around 40 years. He believes that when choosing him, over other candidates, not only his profile and professional career have been taken into account, but also that it is a family member who continues to lead the firm. “We are a business that highly values close treatment, and our clients appreciate entering Ansorena and having someone from the family there to serve them.”
Mato believes that it is important to go through other companies to have a broader vision. And he recognizes that now the pressure is self-imposed, because for the first time he is working on something that is his. “At the bank I had the pressure to meet objectives, but not the stress of whether things are going well or whether the stock market has fallen a few percent. It’s different. As is the satisfaction of not working for a man who sits on a committee somewhere, but for a company that bears my last name.”
Mato is an example of what Pedro León and Ramón Alfonso consider “good practice”, having experience in other companies before joining the family company. There are even companies that in their protocols establish the obligation to have had an independent professional career. “It adds independence and qualification,” says León, to which Alfonso adds: “It forces the person to coordinate with bosses and colleagues and it is seen if they fit in and if they have capabilities.”