- September 22, 2016
- 10:23 am
- Andrew Keyt
- no comments
Cultivating a Family Business
Dave Juday, former chairman, CEO and president of IDEAL Industries found himself at a crossroads in 1992. Describing himself as the last in a long line of benevolent dictators, Dave and his family were at odds with one another and for once, he didn’t know how to fix the problems they were facing. Dave worried about a possible split in the family. He needed help and turned to the newly established Family Business Center at Loyola. Loyola was one of the first Family Business Center’s in the country to create a community of family businesses who could share and learn from one another.
The Center was staffed by Moni Murdock (thought strategist and practice leader behind the Center) and John Ward (Loyola Professor of Management and family business researcher). In John and Moni, Dave found partnership. The three worked together to establish a way forward by building on the family’s shared values and strengths. This early collaboration with the Center left an impression on Dave, one that would eventually lead him to his passion and avocation – providing ownership education for families in business.
While Dave and his family were learning how to work together, they also began learning from fellow members in the FBC community. Dave joined a peer group and, with his family, began attending conferences and programs that covered important topics like employment and compensation policies, independent boards, family constitutions, family councils and more. This was and continues to be the model of collaboration within the Center. Family-to-family learning led by Center staff, became the engine that created new programming, new learning and family business success for many, many business families.
In 2000 Dave joined the FBC’s advisory board. This deeper level of partnership gave him the opportunity to help fellow Center members and advocate for the development of programming and experiential learning opportunities for the whole family.
In 2008, driven by his desire to prepare his own family as well as other family businesses, Dave collaborated with Andrew Keyt on what would eventually become the Family Business Stewardship Institute (FBSI). Dave underwrote the program’s development and with the help of Keyt, Carol Wittmeyer and his daughter, Meghan Juday the program launched in early 2010. Since then, 48 family business owners have enrolled in FBSI.
This year, IDEAL will mark 100 years in business. Dave’s primary focus has been on the future of both his and other family businesses. He wants his family to retain ownership for years to come and their core values to remain evergreen. By collaborating with Loyola’s FBC, Dave and his family have implemented new strategies to accommodate the growth of the family. These include growth through acquisitions, creating an independent board of directors, hiring a successful non-family executive CEO, and developing their family council and the role of the family council chair. Perhaps most importantly, they have made an unwavering commitment to a family strategy that insists on family business education.
Twenty five years ago there wasn’t a lot of research on how to unify and work with the whole family in a family business. Loyola and the Juday family, along with their company, IDEAL Industries have walked together and discovered what works to sustain their family and their business. Reinventing a business, keeping it current and existent, requires multiple strategies, an investment in meaningful relationships, and trust in one’s family and community, all the while navigating the market and industry changes. For each step of the way, Loyola has been the trusted resource for Dave and for other family businesses, helping them cultivate a family business legacy for future generations.
Join Dave and and other Center Members on Oct. 15 at our 25th Anniversary Silver Ball! Purchase your tickets today!