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Troubleshooting family transitions
Mairi Mickel is a fourth-generation member of the family behind 93-year-old Scottish construction company Mactaggart and Mickel Group. When she left her family business in 2011, after 10 years in the fold, she was pulled by the idea of using her own experience to help other business families resolve their transition-related tensions. Today, Mickel remains an “active shareholder” of her family firm, while running her consultancy, Mairi Mickel’s Business Families. A Family Firm Institute-accredited advanced practitioner, Mickel spoke to Alexandra Newlove about why letting go does not have to be painful
TRY TO ACT AS A RESOURCE FOR THE FAMILY
I LOOK AT THE WHOLE THING AS A SYSTEM OF NEEDS AND
What makes your advisory unique? Family business advising is an emerging field and it is just as important as the technical and financial advice that is sought during family business transitions. I sit in the space between what the family expects, and what their business needs to grow, as it is often a place of tension. I look at succession planning over four strands: Leadership; ownership; assets/wealth; and legacy/values. That last one is a really good glue to cement the bigger conversation and all those strands together, especially where conflict exists within the family. It is part behavioural dynamics, part management consultancy. I often collaborate with other advisers to support a family transition across disciplines. Rather than looking at the inheritance plan, or the business plan in isolation I
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look at the whole thing as a system of needs and try to act as a resource for the family to evolve and to create harmony through those systems.
How did your experience within your own family business shape your advisory? For anyone exiting a family business, it can be difficult and bruising. When I left [Mactaggart and Mickel] my personal circumstances were also changing. We had started that journey of the third generation to fourth generation succession, and it was painful and complex. I realised there was a need for other families to have an impartial adviser to say, ‘I have lived this and continue to live this, so I have deep empathy and can help you in your own transition’.
When I left, I had taken on a couple of non-executive director roles elsewhere to inform my ability in our own boardroom. I realised this was leading to a mindset change, and a realisation that I had experience that might be valuable to other business families during their transitions. It was
more a case of being pulled, rather than pushed from my leadership role within my own family business.
In your consultancy work, what are some of the most common issues family business leaders are contending with?
Half my clients present wanting to make good plans ISSUE 73 | 2018
M Y BU S I N E S S
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