In this special edition of Family Enterprise Insights, we're taking a look back at the Global Family Enterprise Program’s 8th Annual Family Enterprise Conference: Reinvention & Resilience! This year's audience included over 100 people from 16 different countries, reflecting the global nature of our program!

Jon Sebastiani ’12  

Jon Sebastiani ’12, Founder & CEO of Sonoma Brands Capital took the audience through his journey joining his family’s businesses and expounded on some of the successes and challenges he faced. He shared practical relational advice for those thinking of joining their family’s business and what to look out for, as well as some career advice from his experience launching his own private equity fund after his family sold their business and he graduated from CBS.

Columbia Business School Professor Rita McGrath shared her experience on innovation in times of uncertainty. Her latest book, Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen, explores how to harness disruptive influences early for a strategic advantage. For family enterprises, this means owners should be vigilant about where change is happening in their businesses to prevent a decline at inflection points.

In this session, leaders in retail and real estate spoke about how their businesses pivoted during the pandemic and what the “new normal” looks like. In many family enterprises, when someone was impacted by COVID-19, everyone in the business felt it, because each person in the business feels like family. This led companies to place an emphasis on communication—between employees, leadership teams, and family members—and invest in technology to effectively communicate with their customers.

Panelists across the globe explored how values within a family enterprise take on a strong presence throughout the company, and how those values impact the employees and key stakeholders. Speakers discussed being genuine in their approach when it comes to issues like sustainability, which is key to stakeholder trust. Research shows that there is an expectation of companies having a stance on social impact and that will continue to grow.

Young Columbia Business School alumni leaders from diverse industries shared their thoughts and insights on how to best position themselves in their family businesses. They gave students and audience members alike invaluable advice on how to pave a successful path for themselves in their family enterprise in the future, from navigating uncomfortable conversations to formalizing governance structures.

The final panel gave the audience an inside look at the missions and family dynamics in family offices by discussing some of the difficulties of keeping younger family members engaged as families grow, and highlighted some of the issues to consider when deciding who should run a family’s office and how best to do it.

Tell us about your family enterprise ➞

Contribute to the Global Family Enterprise Program ➞