Trend shows more daughters taking over family businesses
By Jim Hopkins
USA Today
SAN FRANCISCO — More women than ever are expected to take over family-owned companies.
About 25 percent of small-business owners are considering daughters, rather than sons, as their successors, says an upcoming study of 35,000 family-owned firms by Babson College and other researchers. That's up from less than 10 percent four years ago.
Behind the shift: More women, having earned business degrees, are better qualified for the jobs. With more women in the CEO spotlight, owners are inspired to think more highly of female leaders. And research shows that women often are better at team building and communication.
More women in leadership roles will inspire others, improving social and economic parity between women and men, economists and entrepreneurship experts say.
"Daughters have leveled the playing field," says John Messervey, a family-business consultant based near Chicago. About 40 percent of his clients now have daughters playing big management roles, compared to none 20 years ago.
The shift comes as family businesses toss aside many bedrock traditions. One of the oldest has been the passing of control to the eldest son or selling the company if there are no sons, Messervey says.
Among high-profile women in family business leadership:
• Abigail Johnson, 41, president of Fidelity Investments' mutual fund arm, is widely seen as successor to her CEO father. Her brother works in the real estate unit.
• At the Los Angeles Lakers, Jeanie Buss, 41, in 1999 became executive vice president. Her dad promoted her ahead of another daughter, two sons and a stepson.
• Marilyn Carlson Nelson, 63, recently succeeded her father as CEO at travel giant Carlson, with about $7 billion in annual revenue. Carlson brands include Radisson Hotels & Resorts and T.G.I. Friday's restaurants.
