“The dynamic of the family is brought into the business setting. This effects the business — and the family. … The frustrations of a family business can go home in the evening. Though the conflict might multiply, it’s a wonderful opportunity to work with family. … It’s unifying and energizing.” – S. Dale High ’63 P’86 H’93
Though the general concept of businesses might be the same, those similarities stop at the threshold when family business is at hand. If a family business fails, the family, to some extent, does too. Family businesses, if financially successful, pass from one generation to the next. Some changeovers are smooth. Others? Not so much.
For those reasons and countless others, family businesses turn to Elizabethtown College’s High Center–an organization with members who thoroughly understand the challenges of family business. Next year, the Center celebrates 20 years of helping families and businesses remain successful and move forward.
“I approached Dr. (Gerhard E.) Spiegler, president of the College at that time, and asked him to think about a family business center,” said S. Dale High, who conceived the idea two decades ago. “I knew there were generational transitions coming up or businesses being sold from those that came about after World War II.”
the College had a really strong business program that was responsive to the community.”
High knew these shifting businesses would need a unique support system as they established or revisited their governance structure. “Often family businesses, especially those just starting up, adopt a crisis-based approach rather than looking toward the future,” he said. “We wanted to support skill development to create sturdy governance.”
Other organizations were promoting family business centers across the country so, with his connections to the college – a 1963 alumni, an honorary alumni from 1993 and the parent of class of 1986 student –as well as the reputation and strength of the College’s Business Department, the S. Dale High Center for Family Business at Elizabethtown College was founded.
A family business center, High said, would “enhance the reputation of the College in the business sector, particularly.” And, with family business so prevalent in the region, the center would help give the College leadership, not only in the classroom but in the broader community.
In on the ground floor
“Historically,” said Mary Beth Matteo, past executive director of the Center, “the College had a really strong business program that was responsive to the community.” So, when Dale High came up with the idea, forming at E-town was a natural outgrowth.
“We operated from our hip pocket,” said Matteo, who worked in E-town’s institutional advancement, at the time. In her “extra time,” she said, chuckling, Matteo volunteered to help form the center. The first years, she mentioned, were a bit lean.
But the upstart got funding from Arthur Anderson, Barley-Snyder, Mellon Bank and Glatfelter Insurance.
Sponsors play a “tremendous role” in the stability of the High Center, noted High, who along with many other organizations, has financially supported the work of the center since the beginning. In addition to financial support, he said, sponsors – not all family-owned, but certainly family-business centered – offer resources to members through peer group leadership and by speaking on topics integral to their success. “What the sponsors have in common is experience and skill sets around family business, helping them determine: where are their weaknesses; where are the strengths; where do they need development?”
Once started, the Center caught on quickly, Matteo said. “There was nothing like it in the tri-state area that spoke to family businesses. They saw it as a safe zone. We weren’t selling anything.”
Half of the original goal of 30 members was reached in the first few months; within six months the full 30 had joined, said Matteo, who eventually took on the title of the Center’s executive director.
The success of the Center, she said, is based on a need for understanding. Family-run businesses have the same complications of a business plus the added complication of family, and, she said, family members often feel as though they are under a spotlight from other family members and from non-family employees.
They saw it as a safe zone. We weren’t selling anything.”
“So they feel like they are isolated. The peer groups, especially, give them an outlet.” One peer group, she noted, has been together for four years.
Peer groups – divided by age and subject — are just one of the advantages of membership in the High Center. In addition, the organization offers six discussion sessions a year on various topics chosen by the membership and a yearly forum with high-level, knowledgeable speakers.
This annual Family Business Forum, includes seminars, dinner, a keynote speaker and a hall of fame induction ceremony, all of which bring together like-minded businesses – from a few employees to large firms.
The next forum, held March 26 2015, includes a celebration of the center’s anniversary, with tenured members – business owners who have been with the center since the beginning – and keynote speaker Mark Sanborn, a bestselling author and award-winner speaker. In addition Anne Beiler, founder of Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, and Phil Clemens, CEO of the Clemens Companies, will speak. Throughout the anniversary year the Center plans to invite the highest-rated speakers in its history to revisit with updated wisdom. Attendance is expected at about 300.
Moving toward the future
When Matteo handed over the executive director reins three and a half years ago her transition was a perfect example of family business shift, she said. “If the senior members in a company set the stage correctly, the business will surpass them. That’s when the senior generation hands the company over.”
“Mike Mitchell has taken (the Center) to a whole other, incredible, level.”
Mitchell ’84 joined the High Center in March 2013 after working with H.J. Heinz Co. and for his own family’s business. With working knowledge from start-ups to $50-million corporations, Mitchell’s fit was seamless.
“It was an opportunity to share experience with other family business owners,” he said, noting that he learned, sometimes the hard way, how to grow a busy ownership and put governance in place.
When he joined the Center, Mitchell said he began with what the previous director had started and, from there, determined the most important aspects, moving forward. Mitchell focused on the annual ownership survey, which helps the Center understand the types of governance in place for its members; on the leadership seminars; and on the peer groups, which assist attendees as they process through shared business issues.
Because the High Center offers a place where family-owned businesses can be aware of what to put in place to keep their companies running and stay current with business practices and the latest management theory, the membership has grown.
In June 2013 the Center had 39 members, 29 peer groups and an average of 65 in attendance at the Leadership Speaker Series events. Just a year and a half later, the Center boasts 65 members, 75 peer groups and lecture attendance over 120.
You don’t ever outgrow education.”
Moving forward, Mitchell said, he wants to use the present model, which has been successful, and build from that with the services needed by members. “You don’t ever outgrow education,” Mitchell said of the valuable information sharing that takes place among the membership.
Presently, most members come from Lancaster and Dauphin counties, so the High Center is looking to move into other markets. “We are looking to take the model and expand it.”
The S. Dale High Center for Family Business at Elizabethtown College recently shortened its name to just ‘the High Center.’ The shift was simply to make it less of a mouthful and, therefore, more recognizable. “We wanted to keep the High name because Dale was so instrumental in its existence,” Mitchell said. “High represents family business in this region.”
When the name was first added in 2006 it was a bit surprising to Dale High. “I never suggested that my whole name be put on the Center,” he noted. “It was honestly a little embarrassing,” he added, chuckling.
Twenty years after its founding, High, chairman of High Industries Inc. and High Real Estate Group, is still a perfect representative of family business. “Because it’s a family business,” he said of his companies, “it’s more rewarding and more fun despite those challenges. I have no regrets about where I invested by time and my talent. And,” he added, with a smile in his voice, “all of my (16) grandchildren are within a 12-mile radius. It helps keep family close.”