How do you manage family businesses today?
Challenges, risks and opportunities in the context of social, technological and intergenerational change.
Professional leadership is required if family businesses are to successfully maintain their values and dynamism across generations. It is precisely in times of crisis and upheaval that good leadership proves its worth. But how does leadership have to change in order to lead out of the crisis? How does leadership work today? What challenges and risks must leaders be prepared for? And what opportunities do successful leadership models offer?
The Family Business Network Switzerland had the honor of hosting the first FBN Cross Chapter Event for the German-speaking region. On April 1, 2022, family business owners from Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Luxembourg met at TX Group AG in Zurich to discuss the challenges, risks and opportunities of leadership in the context of social, technological and intergenerational change.
The day-long event was opened by FBN Presidents Jobst Wagner (FBN Switzerland), Patrick Adenauer (FBN Germany) and Jean-Marc Kieffer (FBN Luxembourg). Pietro Supino, publisher and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the TX Group and host of the FBN Cross Chapter event, then invited guests to take a tour of the editorial office of 20 Minuten, where Editor-in-Chief Gaudenz Looser provided exclusive insights into the editorial department of the free commuter newspaper, which was acquired by the TX Group in 2005.
Lars B. Sonderegger, neuroscientist and behavioral scientist at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and himself a member of an entrepreneurial family, demonstrated the role dynamic stability plays in the long-term success of a family business.
Moderated by Marie-Christine von Pezold, the sisters Marie Barbier-Mueller and Valentine Barbier-Mueller, who run Groupe SPG-Rytz together with their father, shared their personal experiences and addressed the daily challenges, but also the advantages of this multi-generational leadership constellation.
In a discussion moderated by Sabine Rau, Patrick Adenauer, managing partner of Bauwens, Wolfram Senger-Weiss, CEO of Gebrüder Weiss, and Georges Eischen, managing partner of La Provençale, shared their insights and best practices on leadership in crisis.