Preserving your family business legacy.
We owe a great deal to family businesses. They employ millions of people across the country, on farms and in cities and everywhere in between. Found in every sector, family businesses play a major, multigenerational role in keeping our country globally competitive as well as growing our thriving communities.
They account for nearly two-thirds of all private-sector companies in Canada, and they employ 6.9 million people, or almost half (47 percent) of all private-sector employment, according to the Conference Board of Canada’s report “The Economic Impact of Family-Owned Enterprises in Canada.” The report says that 99 percent of family businesses in Canada have under 500 employees. Small and medium-sized family businesses truly power Canada’s economy.
The importance of sharing family business history
Given the importance of the family enterprise to our country’s economic success, preserving and sharing its history is critical. As future generations join a business, it’s instructive and inspiring for them to look back on how a business began, to learn from their predecessors’ mistakes and understand their original vision and values.
Current employees benefit from getting a view into the purpose behind the company and learning what its founders were trying to accomplish when they started it. On top of that, external stakeholders, especially customers, are more inclined to work with a business when they understand the history that has gone into building it.
But sharing that history doesn’t always come naturally. Leaders are so focused on running the company, that taking the time to talk about the company’s origins falls way down on the priority list.
First-generation leaders may also simply take it for granted that everyone at the company already knows how it all began. Worse, they may think it’s not worth sharing. They might not realize how inspiring it can be for their successors to hear about their progress, struggles and success. And even if they want to share their history, they may not know of an easy way to do it that will stand the test of time and be easy for others to engage with.
Storytelling is the key to preserving a family business legacy
Family businesses often share the details of their history but neglect to share the reasons behind it. We learn best from understanding why certain decisions were made and how that influenced the leaders involved.
Telling a story beyond its basic events does not come easy to most of us, and leaders who are busy running a business don’t necessarily have the time or inclination to develop that skill. That’s why so many leaders find it helpful to seek external assistance to craft their company’s story, and it’s something we’ve done for the last two decades at Broad Reach (the PR agency our founder runs) through our executive profiling practice. It’s one of the most rewarding things we get to do.
One of Broad Reach’s most inspiring client stories: Henry’s, Canada’s greatest camera store
I was humbled and honoured when Gillian Stein, CEO of Henry’s, came to us for help telling the story of her family business. Henry’s is a great Canadian success story: it was started by Gillian’s great grandfather as a single small repair shop on Toronto’s Church Street in 1909. Through four generations it not only survived (when most family businesses don’t last anywhere near as long) but thrived, becoming Canada’s greatest camera store, with over twenty locations across Canada, a very successful online business, a large B2B segment, and an engaged community of photographers, filmmakers and content creators.
Those are the facts, but Gillian wanted to share the story. She realized that being a fourth-generation Canadian business was extremely rare, and that they’d never taken the time to properly document their history. Their path to success did not follow a straight line, as it just about never does in business, and Gillian wanted to make sure that the details—good and bad, up and down—were preserved and shared.
We helped her craft a beautiful story that highlighted Henry’s history in a compelling way that could be shared with employees, customers and other stakeholders to instill pride in the business and keep their legacy alive. It was a beautiful tribute to her parents, who Gillian credits with building Henry’s into the household name that it is today.
Sharing family business history builds culture and promotes longevity
No business succeeds without people. As a business grows and changes, it’s important to educate every person in the business on its story, because from that story comes culture—and culture is what makes a business.
A strong culture, in turn, helps distinguish a business and promote its longevity. Sharing family history and culture is considered a best practice. It gives next-generation leaders something to refer to when confronted with difficult situations, anchoring them on how their forerunners addressed similar challenges.
A film or podcast documentary is the most engaging, easy and impactful way to tell a story
There are lots of ways to tell the story of a family business. Written histories have long been popular, of course. However, younger generations are engaging less and less with long-form books, preferring formats that they can see and hear and truly immerse themselves in.
Today, we have much better tools at our disposal. Many companies are choosing a film or podcast documentary format that captures not just words but people’s voices, emotions and faces—giving future generations a much more personal view into a leader’s essence.
That’s why we started CONTEXT Studios. We saw an important opportunity to help family businesses capture their stories. There’s so much value to be gained from bringing a company’s story to life, showcasing its successes, growth and struggles.
Sharing values to connect with customers’ minds and hearts
More and more, customers are choosing companies because of their values. Consumers want to buy from companies that share their sensibilities, particularly around environmental, social and governance practices. But if a company doesn’t share its values publicly, how will a customer know what they are and whether they truly share the same ones?
Many companies will post mission/vision/values statements on their websites, but that’s not enough anymore. Leading businesses are using storytelling to share their values in a much more compelling way, allowing them to connect with customers’ minds and hearts now and into the future.
Drawing out new perspectives and new stories
Another key reason for documenting a business’s story is that younger generations often reach a point where they feel like they’ve heard all the stories—and our process uncovers stories that have never been told. We’re able to draw something out of a company founder that surprises and delights the next generation. This gives children a tremendous sense of gratitude, respect and admiration for their founding parents or relatives. In this way, family members get to connect not just with their business, but with each other. There’s nothing more rewarding than that.
We are honoured to do this important work
Helping family businesses share their stories and strengthen their culture in this way is an honour and a responsibility we take very seriously. Reach out if you’d like our help preserving your family business’ legacy for generations to come.
Celebrating Henry's 100th Anniversary in 2009. (L-R) Gillian Stein, Amy Stein, Chris Roach, Anton Krangle, Gaye & Andy Stein.