Family business – the next generation

Why the next generation has to add value

By day, Zoe Cosby devotes her time to Kent Brushes, the family business with a heritage going back almost two hundred and fifty years. Then in the evening she hears about the other family business she is connected to by marriage. Her husband is a director of a removals firm set up by his parents almost half a century ago.

“At school I remember being very proud of our family business,” she says. “I’d be asked what my parents’ jobs were and I’d respond that they make brushes. That’s different, they’d reply, what’s the name of the business? When I told them it was Kent Brushes that say ‘oh, we’ve got one at home’.”

Since 1777, the company has been making hair, teeth, nail, clothes and shaving brushes. The Kent family ran the company for six generations until 1932 when the last of the three Kent brothers died and Eric.L.H.Cosby, an engineer and inventor of the ‘Cosby hygienic refillable hairbrush’ brought the business. The Cosby family have been at the helm ever since.

“As a child growing up, the family business was part of the fabric of my life. Our house was full of brushes,” recalls Zoe Cosby, the company’s public relations manager and daughter of the chairman Alan Cosby.

“Dad would go on business trips for weeks on end and then when he came home, he would tell us about them. In that sense, being in a family that runs a business affects everything in your life. You see the ups and downs happening right in front of you, and although my parents might have thought I wasn’t listening to conversations at the dinner table, I absorbed what was being said.

“I’m one of four siblings, and there was never a one hundred per cent expectation that any of us should join the family business. Our parents encouraged us to follow our own passions, and said they didn’t mind what we wanted to do as long as we were always moving forward.

“But there was an underlying suggestion that if we wanted to join the family business, the door would always be open

“My brother joined Kent Brushes in his twenties, while my elder sister works in television and my younger sister went into fashion design. I was awarded a scholarship to a contemporary dance school in London but I had to leave because of an injury.

“My interest in PR and marketing led me to join the family business when I was twenty. My purpose was to fire up the relationship between Kent Brushes and the professional salon retail sector.”

“There comes a point after the next generation joins the family business that they have to decide whether it’s a long-term commitment they are prepared to make,” maintains Cosby.

“I loved the business, but deep down I knew getting first-hand experience from working at other companies would benefit not only myself but the business further along the line. I also really wanted to travel and it felt a little like a ‘now or never’ situation.

“After travelling I joined Oliver Goldsmith sunglasses, an iconic British eyewear brand where fourth generation family member Claire Goldsmith is chief executive. I worked alongside Claire for the best part of ten years.

“My intention was always to return to Kent Brushes, and after having my two daughters it felt like exactly the right time. I’d travelled, matured, and gained a wealth of knowledge and experience working and collaborating with other brands, and I was ready to bring that to the business. I wanted to be a part of Kent Brushes because I would be an asset to the business, not because of who my father is. Some of us have a clear view of what they want to do when they grow up. Navigating how and when you join a family business is incredibly important. Life experience is integral to growth and it’s important to work out what your skill set is and what you can bring to the table.”

“Communication is essential for every company to get right, but there’s an extra dimension with a family business,” she suggests. “It can be less reserved because it’s all interwoven with homelife and work.

“But at work, it is vital to maintain a professional voice. Being respectful to the old ways of doing things, but confident with your opinions and new ideas is key. Your voice is important but you need to learn how to earn your stripes, prove your decisions and intentions for the company will work.

“I’m as intensely proud of the business as I was when I was growing up. We receive letters and emails about our products every day, such as how people still have the Kent hairbrush they were given on their first day at boarding school seventy years ago.

“That’s not great for repeat business, but it shows that Kent Brushes is a brand which is weaved into people’s lives and prompts them to get in touch and tell us their stories.

“I hope the next generation will continue to recognise that our family business represents trust, durability, and a sense of purpose in having heritage coupled with modern technology.”

What she means by that is years after the purchase, customers often cling onto their Kent Brushes product, so the company provides a refurbishment service for their silver vintage brushes. Replacement bristles are hand stitched into the wood by a highly skilled craftsperson in much the same way as it was two and half centuries ago. And it takes place next to automated machinery producing today’s new brushes.

“It would be remiss to say the next generation joining a family business doesn’t come with particular challenges,” says Cosby.

“Just because something was done in a particular way doesn’t mean the next generation shouldn’t be able to introduce change.

“Knowing when to relinquish a position to the next generation can’t be easy and in a family business it shouldn’t be assumed that the role the next generation take is going to be the CEO.

“It comes back to what value they can bring to the business. It could be that the next generation would provide that as the company’s creative director, head of export, or managing press and communications!

“I want my two girls to follow what they want to do, to decide their own destiny. But I talk to them endlessly about our brand’s heritage, what we create, and life at work, much as my parents did with me. They love the stories, like how we made shaving brushes with a hidden compartment for the secret service. “My daughters are still very little but the family business door is open. I will of course encourage them to gain lots of experience before committing to anything, whether that is Kent Brushes or something entirely different.”

So, is there something our politicians could introduce to sustain the family business?

“I would like government to provide the means of multi-generational family businesses to stay independent for the next generation to take over,” says Cosby, “and tax relief could be a means of doing that.”

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Knowing how to deliver a legacy

Kate Gibson: “My earliest memory of the family business was taking part in an advertisement for a Peter Rabbit game when I was four years old. “When I was growing up, I watched Dad work really hard, which meant he wasn’t always present as I maybe wanted him to be. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do as a career. I was probably lacking a bit of confidence but I knew I was hardworking and determined. “After nearly four years as direct marketing officer at a charity, I joined Gibson Games to manage operations and I was flattered to have been asked. I wanted to do the right thing by my Dad and I wanted him to be proud of me. Certainly, I wasn’t thinking at that stage that in time I’d be managing director.

“It’s a gradual process stepping into the shoes of a parent in a family business. I went on to spend nine years here being responsible for marketing before taking up the role of MD. My father had the longest tenure as managing director. He had been such a significant driver of the business I realised it would take time to introduce my own approach to the business, and we had a year of transition when he decided to retire.

“I do remember thinking this is a big responsibility. Can I do this? Have I got what it takes? Can I balance the job with my family? And then initially, I felt something weighing down on my shoulders, a kind of imposter syndrome.

“Dad became chairman but was still very involved day-to-day, and at the time when I just had my daughters we had employed an interim managing director, so in effect two chiefs already in position. I wanted to express myself. I knew I could make some positive changes. Then one day I had an ‘I can’t do this anymore’ moment when I said I don’t want the job to be like this. Dad said let’s talk about how we really want the business to operate going forward.

“There have been moments since when Dad has asked what’s happening here, but also moments when he’s nudged me on something I needed to look at. It would be abnormal if that wasn’t what happens, and he is hugely supportive of what we are doing.

“I wanted the company to address employee engagement, culture, sustainability, and governance, such as having shareholder agreements. And I realised I had to really learn the finances of the business if I was going to make a real input.

“Working for the family firm was very different from the job I had before. In terms of culture, the voluntary sector is quite progressive in terms of its focus on people and what they need to do their job effectively. That culture of developing people, and getting the best out of them is something I have worked hard to bring about. When I first joined Gibsons, there were no appraisals for example, or team meetings.”

“Developing a positive and productive culture was completely in line with our company’s core value of ‘bringing people together’, although the value originally was more in relation to families playing games together and to the business owners having good relationships with suppliers and customers.

“Yes, a family business will have purpose and values but there is a difference between talking the talk and living and breathing it, and there’s something in the ethos of a family business which makes that more likely to happen.

“When we first sat down to consider our values we realised they were instinctive and people who worked here thought that as well.

“I also believe growth and sustainability are necessary to deliver a legacy. I want to build on what my great-grandfather, grandfather and father have achieved but also open the door to new ideas to enable us to move forward in today’s world.”

“Strong values and time-honoured ways of doing things can be valuable, but resistance to change can also hold a business back. People who can’t or don’t want to take the business further but are loyal and long-serving mean family businesses sometimes have the challenge of having to make really tough decisions. The pandemic meant many family business owners had no choice but to put on a thick skin and have those difficult conversations.

“Would I want my children to follow in my footsteps? I have to think carefully about the answer.

“I want them to follow their heart. I have no expectation that they will join the family business, but if they did, I would want them to have done something else first to gain skills and experience, to understand that we would need to have discussions about what it means to be involved in a family business, and to earn their place and respect from existing employees.

“As a mum, I want them to do whatever makes them happy and to believe that with hard work and determination they can be whatever they want to be, but if they wanted to join the business one day that would be fantastic.”

“My sister and cousins also have children. We just don’t know what’s ahead but we certainly won’t shy away from thinking about succession; selling the business would be the least favoured option.”

Michael Gibson: “I worked for Thomas De La Rue, a job which didn’t pay very well and I was working a long way from my home and social life. My father and uncle said

that if I wanted to think about joining the family business then now would be a good time as someone had left their job in the office and there was a vacancy.

“It was my grandfather who started Gibson Games in 1919, then called HP Gibson & Sons, and when I had to take over from my father, I wanted it to survive as a family business. I felt I had been trusted with the family silver.”

“My father died when I was twenty-seven. I can remember talking to him in hospital, telling him there was no need to worry about the business. He said I’m not. He was probably lying to me as I was lying to him.

“Suddenly I was confronted by a situation I had no experience of dealing with, matters like staff asking for a pay rise thinking I was vulnerable. But I always feel that when I talk about a family business, I mean not just the family shareholders but everybody who works in the business.

“Having people who truly understand and embrace the values and well-being of the company is essential to the growth and survival of any family business.”

“I worked every hour God sent because I knew if the business was doing well then it would keep my family financially safe. I’m not very good at delegating, probably because I had to jump in at the deep end and felt the need to keep my finger on the pulse of everything, be it sales, marketing or product development.

“I didn’t get much in the way of compliments from my father and in that sense I recognise I’m a watered down version of him. I realise that because someone is a family member, you tend not to say well done or give them the praise they deserve.

“I have been lucky in having the total support of the shareholders; family businesses often fail because of disagreements over direction rather than market conditions. If you’re not careful, a downside of a family business can be that emotions run high and the company can go to the wall because of family disagreements rather than strictly business reasons.

“With Kate joining the business I was looking ahead. I wasn’t thinking of retiring at the time and I didn’t want to sell the business, even though financially that would have been of enormous material benefit to me. I knew that if Kate was to take it on, she wouldn’t just want to continue to do it my way and that wouldn’t be easy for me. But I’m good at imagining myself in other people’s situations, and that has helped me come to terms with it. My role is to be here for Kate if she needs to talk to me.”

 

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Why trust has to be a key characteristic

For a while, this was one family with two separate family businesses. That’s because instead of joining the company set up by her father and uncle, Victoria Brocklesby together with cousin Neil Ginger started a completely new venture with their support.

“My father and uncle went into business together to build indoor swimming pool complexes for forty years before then selling their company,” says Brocklesby. “Me and my brother were very much involved with it when we were young. We’d do some work with Dad when he was in the office and helped out at exhibitions. We had a real sense of being there as family.

“A family business can be all consuming. If we wanted to spend time all together, invariably it would be a work-related event.

“I went to university to study physics with space science. At the time I was keen to become an astronaut. I still am! I had nothing planned out for a career and at the back of my mind I did think about joining a finance house in the city. Thank goodness I didn’t!

“But I liked the idea of starting a business. My father and uncle were very entrepreneurial and I had their work ethic behind me. Then my cousin Neil phoned me and asked what I was doing. I said nothing really, apart from some skiing and wind surfing, although I knew real life had to kick in. Neil had the idea of manufacturing a bi-folding door system which nobody else in the UK was making.

“He and I started Origin by using space at my father and uncle’s premises, and they acted as guarantors for the bank and became shareholders. They were having supply problems sourcing bi[1]folding doors from Germany, and it’s a real issue on a £2 million pool enclosure project if the windows and doors don’t turn up in time to weatherproof it. I remember sometime before, my uncle being so frustrated he said couldn’t we just make the bi-folding doors ourselves?

“My brother worked for a sports distributor in procurement and distribution, and after Origin had been in business for four years he joined us with that experience at a time when we really needed it.”

Today, Origin are the UK’s leading manufacturer of bespoke aluminium bi-folding doors and windows. Brocklesby is the company’s chief operating officer, Neil Ginger their chief executive.

“I don’t ever remember thinking this might not work,” muses Brocklesby, “and one of the reasons is the real sort of lovely feeling of support you get from being in a family business. We are a close family, and all live near to each other.

“At one time, out of our three hundred and fifty staff, about seventy-five per cent were related to someone else within the company.

“The biggest characteristic, the bedrock of a family business is trust, and that also includes letting people get on with what they are doing so that they feel a sense of purpose and responsibility from it. That also means for the owner, there’s no need to be constantly ‘in’ rather than ‘on’ the business when there’s trust in people, but you’ve got to give them the right tools.

“I think that can be a reason why a family business more naturally puts an arm around someone who is struggling – by that I mean nurturing, gathering round to bring that person up. But you can only do that for so long.

“The difference is that our first reaction as a family business would be a desire to support that person.”

Although Origin’s values are writ large and graphically across virtually the length of one of the boardroom walls, it was the company’s staff who came up with the words to describe them, such as selflessness, impact, curiosity.

“We hire based on our values, bringing people in for their attitude because we can teach them the skills,” explains Brocklesby.

She believes a close family business can make decisions quickly as it’s less likely to be beholden to outside shareholders.

“But a family business will be acutely aware that it isn’t just risking its own money but the livelihoods of everyone involved, especially when the company has a real presence in its community,” she points out.

Brocklesby has another cousin who has been with the company for fifteen years, and whose three children hold posts at Origin. In addition, there are ten other family members who are part of the next generation.

“I’m not actively encouraging my children to join the family business because I want them to keep their options open,” she says. “Look, I’m definitely not discouraging them. They will figure things out for themselves as to what they want to do.

“But once a family member joins usually they are here to stay so there have to be honest conversations about what value they will be bringing to the business. And if what happens is they’re not pulling their weight you have to deal with it. The trouble is that can fracture the family dynamic, because in a family business your relationship extends way beyond work.

“When we started, we were lucky to have access to family funds because my father and uncle did very well in their business. From a financial perspective banks are tight with lending in a country which is innovative and has people with a fantastic work ethic, engaged and integrated, which is a recipe for being able to start a business successfully but itself not enough necessarily to scale.

“I would like to see a more relaxed approach to lending to a growing family business which would be accompanied by support to help them scale. We need to enable them to fly, which is important if family businesses are still to be considered the bedrock of our economy.

“And if government had a family business minister in the cabinet, it could prevent unintentional consequences of legislation and the damage it can do to the family business.”

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Knowing what is hugely important

Usually what happens in a family business is that either a new generation joins after learning the ropes and gaining experience elsewhere, or they are catapulted into taking charge because of unforeseen circumstances.

For Jenny Mouser, it was kind of the latter. Another way of describing her becoming managing director at her family’s funeral business M Lucking & Sons is that she retired into the post after spending most of her career in local government.

A (very) long story short will provide an explanation. It was in 1887, some two hundred and fifty six years after his ancestor of the same name started this business, that William Lucking purchased the property which remains both its place of work and a home for members of the family today.

Now if we fast-forward to the middle of the last century, Christine Lucking married Bernard Gowing who in 1974 who joined the family business. In 1996, Darren Lucking, Christine’s cousin’s son, joined from a printers company, and six years later, Roy Palmer, his cousin from the other side of the family with a diploma in funeral directing also came on board from another firm of funeral directors. There’s more. In 2018, Calum (Roy’s son), bringing IT skills with him to “help M Lucking & Sons join the twenty-first century.”

Then in 2023, Darren’s nephew Callum (CJ) also joined. It was in 2010 that Jenny Mouser took early retirement from the public sector and took over along with Christine as joint managing director.

“I think if a business is just owned rather than run by a family which aren’t directly involved in its operation, then the focus can be on the money rather than the ethos,” she says.

And provides a specific difference between a family run funeral directors and its competitors. “You must have seen the multiples advertising on television to say they can arrange any type of funeral, showing a gathering of motorcycle enthusiasts as an example, as if that is something unusual; but I can’t think of a funeral director who wouldn’t arrange what the deceased wanted,” she says. “The actual difference is that when the multiples talk about providing a caring, personal service, they do it from their standpoint. We treat every funeral as if it’s the first one we have done,” adds Darren Lucking. “Whoever speaks to the relative of the deceased in first instance is their point of contact all of the way through and will conduct the actual funeral. Relatives aren’t put into a process when what can happen is that the person who actually conducts the funeral only sees the family for the first time when they arrive at the church or crematorium.

“To maximise cost reduction, the multiples and the consolidators in funeral directing will often have central hubs where bodies are stored and then brought back to a location for the funeral. Here they are at rest in our building, in the community we serve.”

What brought the enormity of the company’s longevity home to Lucking was a chance encounter with an oil painting. “I was visiting a castle on a day trip when I glanced at the date of a portrait of one of the ancestors who had lived there. I realised we had already been in business a couple of centuries by then,” he explains.

But Mouser says the company doesn’t equate being founded in 1631 with being antediluvian. “We use tablets to make notes when we meet the family of the deceased, and the software prompts us to ask particular questions so nothing is missed,” she points out by way of example.

Thus far, fourteen generations of the family have followed the founder. And the initial in what is the limited company’s name today – M Lucking & Sons – comes from Mary Lucking who carried on the business in the earlier days of the twentieth century.

“My daughter emigrated to Australia and my dad would have dearly loved my son to join the family business,” says Mouser. “I remember when he took him to one side when he was sixteen to suggest it, but his passion was cars, and had been from the time he was a toddler. He went on to start his own classic car business.”

Lucking’s wife is a qualified embalmer and the PA to a local coroner. “I think she would join us at the drop of a hat if there’s a real position for her here,” he muses.

The future? “Our bank manager has tried to persuade us about expansion and we are constantly approached to sell our business,” says Mouser, “but we are aware of our history and our standing in the community and don’t want to do anything which could change our ethos.

“It is hugely important within the family which owns and is involved in the business that you all get on because then you can be open about everything, discuss anything, and there is a common desire for a positive conclusion because our lives outside the business are linked together. If you are a family member, this is a vocation, not a job.”

With an appreciation of what family means. “What has stayed in my mind was a time when my kids were young and a woman with terminal cancer asked my father if he would arrange her funeral,” explains Mouser.

“It was Christmas morning in the early hours that he received the call to say she had died. He was visibly upset. The woman had two young children and when he arrived at the house their presents from her were there under the tree. Afterwards he came to us for Christmas dinner and to see my children open their presents.”

 

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