If you’re having trouble, you may view this message via a Web browser.

Conway Center for Family Business

Monthly Message -- June 2011

THIRD ANNUAL

FAMILY BUSINESS NIGHT

AT THE CLIPPERS!

MONDAY, JUNE 20th, 7:00 p.m.

Pre-game Social Hour - 5:30-7:00 p.m.

In the picnic area above Section 3

What could be better than bringing your family to watch the Columbus Clippers take on the Toledo Mud Hens after a hard day's work? How about catching up with other family business leaders and indulging in some great ballpark food and drinks?

Did we mention it's also Dime a Dog Night? Unbeatable!

Come early, if you like, to enjoy a pre-game beverage or snack. We'll be waiting for you with a $10 food and drink token, courtesy of Conway Center member and 2011 Family Business Tour and Networking Event host Ricart Automotive. Sign up today to be a part of this fun-filled evening that will provide an opportunity for you to rub elbows, and knees, with other Central Ohio family business leaders.

A few tickets are still available but they won't last long. Cost is $10 per adult ticket, $7 per youth ticket. Reserve yours by e-mailing your desired ticket quantity to Deana Gordon at gordon@familybusinesscenter.com or calling the office at 614.253.4820.

8th Annual Family Business Tour and Networking Event

Ricart Automotive

4255 S. Hamilton Road

Columbus, OH 43227

August 18th - 4:00-6:30 p.m.

Have you put this date on your calendar yet? You won't want to miss this year's tour -- the Ricart family has a lot of fun in store for you and your family. Whether you're interested in getting a peek at the recording studio where many of those famous ads are created, or meeting members of the Ricart family, this event has something for everyone. The test track will be open for those who are brave enough to try the on-site driving school's skid car and anyone can enter to win a guitar and lessons!

Did you ever wonder how the Ricarts became so successful? Find out from Fred and Rhett Ricart as they share how their family went from owning one Ford dealership in 1953 to being the largest Ford dealership in the world for 12 consecutive years and the only MotorTrend Certified dealer in Central Ohio. Add this event to your schedule today and invite another family business leader to attend with you -- it will surely be a night to remember!

To RSVP, contact Deana at 614-253-4820 or gordon@familybusinesscenter.com, or visit www.familybusinesscenter.com.

Family Business Awards

Call for Nominations

Nominate a Family Business Today!

Deadline is July 29th

Does your family business or one that you know deserve to be recognized for a significant accomplishment or milestone this year? If so, please let us know so we can recognize their success at the 2011 Family Business Award Program. We are looking for family businesses that deserve recognition in one the following award categories:

Communication - recognizes family businesses that have developed tools or strategies for effective communication within their company or with their family members regarding the business;

Community Engagement - recognizes family businesses that have made a significant contribution to the Central Ohio community;

Milestone Achievement - recognizes family businesses that have reached a significant milestone during 2011 (longevity, business, or other significant achievement);

Re-Invention - recognizes family businesses that have successfully adjusted their business strategy or focus to address a changing business climate or societal demands;

Succession Planning/Implementation - recognizes family businesses that have developed or completed a succession plan or transferred leadership; and

Support of a Family Business - recognizes organizations or individuals that have shown support or demonstrated a commitment to the strength, success or longevity of a family firm.

To nominate a deserving family business, just send the company's name and contact information, along with the category for the nomination and the reason you are nominating them to Deana Gordon at gordon@familybusinesscenter.com. We'll send each nominated company an application form and let them know you submitted their name. It's a great way to recognize a client, customer, or peer for their hard work. Don't wait; send in your nominations today!

SEO Training Offered to CCFB Members at 25% Discount

Whether you're a veteran online marketer, or looking for introductory-level Search Engine Optimization (SEO) training, Webbed Marketing University (WMU) can help you achieve your online marketing goals. Each webinar is hosted by an expert from Webbed Marketing. The three, 1.5 hour webinars will focus on the following Internet marketing strategies:

Wed., July 13, 2011 at 2 p.m. - Introduction to SEO, will focus on the building blocks of SEO and help identify how you can implement an SEO campaign to help meet your business goals.

Wed., Aug. 10, 2011 at 2 p.m. - Facebook trends, updates and best practices for your business, will address Facebook trends, including tab features, Facebook Places & Deals, and advertising.

Wed., Sept. 14, 2011 at 2 p.m. - Online Public Relations and Social Media, will highlight how you can strategically use online public relations to help your business maintain a positive online presence.

The CCFB member discount is 25% off the cost of the WMU series. With the discount, the cost is $374.25. WMU. Because WMU focuses on individualizing each session for the attendees, each webinar is limited to 20 attendees and will fill up quickly. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, www.twitter.com/WMUniversity, and visit the registration page at www.webbedmarketing.com/wmu!

Find CCFB on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn

Did you know that the Conway Center shares information for and about family businesses on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn? We also provide program updates and information and encourage you to connect with other area family businesses through these networks. If you haven't already connected with us on these sites, please take a few minutes to add us to your social media network so you don't miss any important family business news. Just click on the appropriate icon on the right side of this page and sign up today!

Directors' Insight

One of the priorities of the Conway Center for Family Business is to recognize the success of Central Ohio's family-owned businesses. With over 6,500 family businesses contributing to the region's economy, we believe it is important to increase awareness of their accomplishments and achievements. To-date, we've honored more than 100 family-owned businesses at our annual awards program and we look forward to honoring more deserving organizations at the 13th Annual Family Business Awards Program this November 4th.

We encourage you to nominate a family business for an award this year. The few minutes you take to submit a name or two could have a positive impact on the nominees and those who learn from their stories of success. So if you know of any family businesses that have completed a succession plan or successfully transferred leadership of their company from one generation to the next, found a unique solution to a complex business problem, developed a successful communication strategy, made a contribution to their community or gone above and beyond the call of duty to help an employee, customer or vendor, be sure to take this opportunity to recognize them.

Dick and Deana

June Peer Group Meetings

To sign up for any of this month's peer group meetings or to learn more about peer group opportunities contact Peer Group Coordinator Connie Nicholson at nicholson@familybusinesscenter.com or visit www.familybusinesscenter.com.

Family Business Leaders - Next Meeting June 8th
Topic: Managing Sales Activity
8:00-9:30 a.m., at Sequent, 4700 Lakehurst, Suite 200, Dublin

CEO Peer Group - Next Meeting June 9th (RSVP Required*)
3:30-7:30 p.m. at Jefferson Country Club in Gahanna
*Members of this group are asked to commit to one full year of meetings. If you are interested, we encourage you to try one out.

Women in Family Business - Next Meeting June 14th
Topic: Protecting the Family Business Using Buy-Sell Agreements
7:30-9:00 a.m. in the Griffin Center at Ohio Dominican University

Next Generation Leaders* - Next Meeting June 16th
Noon - 1:00 p.m. at O'Brien & Associates
*Members of this group participate for one full year. If you are interested in joining the 2012 group, please let us know.

Welcome New Family Business Member

Graffiti Foods, Ltd.
Phil and Sue Griesinger
333 Outerbelt Street, Columbus, Ohio 43213/614-759-1921
www.graffitifoods.com

Graffiti Foods is a custom food manufacturer, specializing in proprietary soups, sauces, gravies, seasonings, marinades, dressings, and side dishes for restaurant chains, retail outlets, and food service operators. It was started by husband and wife team Phil and Sue Griesinger in 2005 and utilizes Phil's more than 20 years of experience in both the food and food packaging industries. The company strives to create artistic expressions of flavor for various partners in the food industry using a unique blend of research, development, sales, marketing, quality assurance, quality control and service. The Griesingers work collaboratively with their partners to provide their customers with high quality service, support, solutions, and technical services. The majority of Graffiti Foods products are packaged in coextruded pouches but the company also has the capability to produce dry seasoning blends and marinades.

Take the Anxiety Out of Hiring Family Members

by Bryan Driscoll, of Murray Associates

Consider these ideas to bring clarity to your selection process:

Bias: The biggest challenge when hiring family members - We talk often about common biases like experience, education, and intelligence, but none as large as the biases faced when hiring a family member. Neither right or wrong nor good or bad, "family" biases are simply a reflection of our personal view point. Oftentimes, this personal viewpoint is unknowingly injected into the hiring process even when it is not relevant to the job. When this happens, it creates a barrier, preventing us from being objective as to what talent a son, daughter, cousin, etc. truly brings to the job. In addition, the most important skill in a job candidate is that of personal accountability. Are we truly staying objective when considering if a family member brings this attribute to the job?

Objectivity - Can we truly be objective when hiring a close family member? Is there anyone in your organization who will come forward and ask the tough questions that everyone else is avoiding?

Family Brand - Often the family brand is "you" because you have built a great reputation and provide a quality product, good or service. Will this personal brand be enhanced by bringing on a family member? Will the long term reputation of your organization thrive?

Fuzzy Expectations - Fuzzy expectations lead to fuzzy results. If the job could talk, what would it tell us? Beyond the blocking and tackling fundamentals of the job, we need to consider behaviors, intrinsic rewards and attributes that are needed for superior performance. Unfortunately, our personal biases keep us from hearing the job talk. If you alone are making the decision your own personal biases will interfere with the process. Are you willing to let others participate in the selection process to uncover blind spots that get in the way? To do this, pretend you are building a robot to do the job. What would you have the robot do? It is when we think of a particular person in the position that our biases also enter the process.

Behavior vs. Motivators - We may only be looking at how a family member would do the job. The how is only the cover of the book which will be compared to how you do the job. It is possible for successful family members to differ on how they do the job, but discovering why successful family members do a job will provide a better understanding. When a person's intrinsic passions are fulfilled on the job, they will perform better than those who do not receive intrinsic rewards. Attitudes play a key role on the job, and we must uncover what attitude is going to show up for work. Looking only at behavior will yield hiring mistakes. Have we really uncovered a family member's passion? That is the key to performance. The correct values and passion for the work are a much better indicator of success.

Skills vs. Attitudes - This often happens because of the value we put on skills without fully understanding the attitudes a family member brings to the table. If skills always led to success, then all people who have passed skill or knowledge tests would be successful. We may be thinking that, "I have educated him in the best institutions so he can definitely do this job," without considering the attitudes and motivators he brings to the table. For example, we know that not all medical doctors, lawyers, CPAs, nurses and chiropractors are successful. They have all passed an exam that certifies their knowledge and skills, but much more contributes to success. In fact, we would be more successful in selection if we hired for attitude and then focused on developing skills.

At the end of the day, you need to ask yourself if you have stayed objective and asked enough tough questions to bring clarity to the selection process.

Members in the News/

Interesting Reading

Happy Chicken Farms incubates growth plan
Columbus Business First
President Bruce Lackey in 1981 started working full-time for Happy Chicken Farms, the family-owned business his father started. Happy Chicken Farms has provided Central Ohio with eggs since 1953, but over the years it has grown its distribution product...

White Castle Innovation Panel At Louisville Family Business Center...
White Castle Innovation Panel At Louisville Family Business Center Summit on WN Network delivers the latest Videos and Editable pages for News & Events...

Now Hiring: America's Family Businesses
PR Newswire (press release)
And according to a new survey completed by Family Enterprise USA (FEUSA), family business owners are a major contributor to this positive news. As part of its Annual Family Business Survey, FEUSA asked family business owners in the US about their...

Ed Stack stays close to his business to make Dick's Sporting Goods better
Smart Business Network
Edward W. Stack had all sorts of doubters when he suggested expanding his family's business beyond its two stores in upstate New York. Even his father, the founder of what is today Dick's Sporting Goods Inc., didn't see a reason to grow...

Family business planning
BusinessWorld Online
Strategy formulation and implementation in a family business are the hardest management jobs in the world. Why so? Because family business leaders "must have both the hardball strategic skills to top their rivals and also the people skills to navigate...

How to successfully approach estate and succession planning...
Smart Business Network
Most people are not comfortable talking about their finances, even with family members.

Family Business: Mother (and Daughter) Know Best
BusinessNewsDaily
Not every CEO has seen her business partner in her diaper, but that's one of the unique hurdles for moms and daughters who become business partners. While trust and respect is important for any...

How to structure sale of business
News & Observer
Over the past few columns, I have discussed issues related to selling the family business. I've covered the importance of evaluating your life goals along with the dollars involved in a sale, the value of shaping up...

Succession Planning Can Be Tricky Business for Family Owned Firms
BusinessNewsDaily
The transition of a family business from one generation to the next can be an emotionally trying time. To this end, the success of the succession often depends on how those emotions are handled.

Family businesses perceived as more innovative
WCAX
Dann Van Der Vliet is with the Vermont Family Business Initiative at the University of Vermont. He gives advice on how to add value to the family brand. Family businesses need to focus on where the business is going says Van Der Vliet,...

Are you prepared for business succession?
Snohomish County Business
Whether you've built your company from the ground up or you're preserving a proud family business that's been passed through the generations, you've worked hard to establish a valuable financial legacy. However, the ultimate success of...