In years past, bringing the kids into a family business usually meant grooming the owner's son to take over.
Times, of course, have changed.
Today, younger entrepreneurial women are launching businesses of their own. Likewise, many older women have been running companies for years.
Nearly half of all privately-held enterprises in the United States are at least 50 percent owned by women, according to a 2005 survey from the Center for Women’s Business Research. That adds up to roughly 11 million companies.
As a result, moms now frequently turn to their daughters for technological know-how and other skills. Daughters often ask moms to get involved because of their experience as lawyers, retailers, bankers, marketers, and more.
Can mothers and daughters really work well together?
But what worked in the past for Papa & Son doesn't necessarily suit Mama & Daughter.
Besides any natural tension between parents and grown children about issues of power, trust, and risk-taking, there are specific challenges for mothers and daughters who work together.
"Twenty years ago, women were told that in order to get ahead in business they had to be more like men," says Atlanta-based management consultant Elizabeth Gordon, author of "The Chic Entrepreneur." Now, girls and young women realize that they can succeed by being themselves, she says. "These two points of view, on the way a woman should look, dress, act and behave in a business setting, could be the source of generation gap tension."
Here's another distinction: Business-owner dads tend to test their sons by tossing them into choppy waters and seeing how they swim. Not so with women. "Men tend to bond through rivalry and competition," Gordon says. "But mothers and daughters bond over helping each other grow."
So what happens when mothers and daughters decide to run a business? And how can you head off potential trouble?
Here's how two successful mother-daughter teams have made a business work without ruining their personal relationships.
Taking the firm into the 21st century
Karen Ziccardi founded her Orange County, Calif.-based interior design firm in 1977, and has racked up numerous industry awards along with high-profile clients. When daughter Brooke Ziccardi joined the business in 1999, her mom offered her top-level responsibilities right away. But Brooke wanted to learn the business from the ground up, so she took an entry-level job first.
Soon Brooke had some new ideas about expansion and intercultural design because she had logged time traveling around India.
Karen was smart enough not to interfere.
The result was Ziccardi Designs (ZDI), a new business entity the two co-founded. Brooke’s mission was to lead ZDI firmly into the 21st century. According to Karen, this meant a greater focus on emerging global markets, high-tech resources, communication, and design.
Meanwhile, Karen concentrated on maintaining and growing her existing clientele, which included celebrities and international families with multiple homes.
Today, ZDI is not only thriving, but has jumped to a new plateau. Somewhat reinventing her mom's profession, Brooke calls herself a "business designer." She manages the design and space planning issues of a project from beginning to end. “As I expand the international division and my knowledge of multiple and varied cultures, I'm excited about the growth opportunities that exist within our industry," she says.
ZDI's current projects include a five-star hotel and shopping center development in China, and model-home projects in Jordan, Morocco, Turkey, India, and Saudi Arabia. "Brooke’s knowledge of state-of-the-art technology has been an invaluable resource," Karen says. "Regardless of the hour in Dubai or Delhi, we are able to successfully transmit our comments, drawings, etc., at a rate hitherto unknown in our profession."
The women both say they consider the other her best friend.
Lesson Learned: Be flexible. Allow the business to evolve based on the new owner's different personality and skills. But make sure to set firm boundaries so mother and daughter each has independent authority and areas of responsibility.
Leveraging the close relationship to grow
In 2004, five years after her father died, Mary Adams joined her parents' marketing communications company, Lawrence Adams Inc. Her mother, Marti Adams, had been running the Ohio-based company on her own.
"My mother was excited," Mary says. "She felt strongly about continuing the legacy of my father's name through the business."
But eventually, Mary wanted to branch out on her own. In 2004, she launched an event management and marketing company, Event Consulting Group. "But I continue to do business development for [Lawrence Adams]. And it's not always easy to separate 'Momma' from 'boss' and 'vendor.'"
When Adams first joined the firm, her mom Marti says that they had to iron out their personal communication issues, which were affecting the business relationship. It took time and effort to get through the conflicts. "I had done work for my parents through high school and college," Marti says. "At the time, I was too young to know the difference between the skills they were teaching me and what I thought was criticism."
By committing themselves to making the partnership work, they eventually smoothed out the bumps.
Lessons Learned:
1. Maintain professionalism at all times. "We complement each other in business meetings," says Mary. "There's unspoken trust and confidence in each other that takes over when we are presenting." And they're always on the same page in public. "When—not if—you disagree, do not do it in public," she says. "People are looking for the parent/child relationship to permeate business situations." When you do disagree, be respectful and considerate of the other's viewpoint.
2. Business is business. "Compartmentalizing is one of the toughest things to establish," Mary says. "We have made a concerted effort to get together or dedicate phone calls for 'personal time.' With a family business, we feel it's healthy and critical to set aside mother-daughter time."
3. Keep it personal. "Don't shy away from calling your mom 'Mom' from 9-5," says Mary. "We have received comments from clients that the personal touch and small-business feeling is lost in corporate America. It can be a selling point. We have built a reputation in our industry niche as the 'mother-daughter team.'"
4. Time it right. "Mother and daughter must be ready to move beyond the teenage power struggles and see each other as women," says Elinor Robin, a Boca Raton, Fla., mediator who often works with family businesses. Often, say women who've been there and done that, the business relationship will work better once the daughter has gained some business experience elsewhere.
Other tips:
- Walk away and take a break if you feel too emotional.
- It's only natural to talk about business during social times. But make sure you have independent lives, as well.
- Don't take too many shortcuts with each other. Family members tend to be much less formal with one another.
Finally, confidential to Mom: Remember to praise your daughter's work.