Challenges of Family Businesses – Taking Over the Family Business

By Vistage member Barbara Bry

Family business transitions can be difficult, filled with tension and conflict, as the founder-parent has difficulty giving up control, and the employee-child must gain acceptance from existing executives and other employees. Lisa Wolman confronted this situation as she was moving up the ladder at For Eyes Optical Company, started by her father Philip in 1972.

The company was one of the first optical chains to compete on price at a time when there was little price competition on eyeglasses. For Eyes offers quality eyewear and services for between 30 percent to 50 percent less than most retail optical companies. They are able to do this because they obtain volume purchasing discounts, and they operate a 50,000-square-foot centralized optical laboratory that can make more than 3,000 pairs of prescription eyeglasses per day.

Lisa joined the company in 1989, and in 1998, realizing that she needed to more clearly establish her own identity, she set up a separate office in New York City focused on marketing, purchasing and real estate needs of the company. At the same time, the company brought in a chief operating officer who worked with her father at the corporate headquarters in Miami.

When the COO left the company in 2003, Lisa was made president and CEO, and her father stepped up to become chairman of For Eyes, which has more than 120 stores and almost 1,000 employees around the United States. In her new role, she commutes between New York and Miami.

The transition went more smoothly than she had expected, Lisa said, due to the fact that she had already been at For Eyes for 15 years and her father had moved on to start a new career in real estate development while remaining the non-operating chairman of For Eyes. Her younger brother Adam Wolman works at For Eyes where he heads up the real estate department.

Does Lisa think that she has been treated differently because she’s a woman?

“It wasn’t just that I was a woman,” Lisa said. “It was also the fact that I was the daughter of a very charismatic dynamic leader, and people inevitably interacted with me based upon their relationship with my father. It was somewhat confusing and disorienting when I started working but after 17 years, I’ve established my own identity. Still, the gender issue comes up at times, especially since I recently got married, and people in the industry and within the company are questioning whether I’ll continue working. I don’t believe that would be an issue if I were a man.”

Gaining credibility with the company’s management team and instilling her mark were her first tasks as CEO.

“I’m very focused on communication. I listen a lot. When I became the CEO, I met with each member of my management team, which was my father’s team, and I really listened to them. I wanted to hear from them what we were doing right and where we needed improvement. I wanted to make sure that they felt they were contributing and what I needed to do to support them more. I’m definitely more collaborative in my approach,” she said.

Revenues had been stagnant for several years before Lisa became CEO, and she quickly took steps to make top line growth a priority. These steps included:

• Establishing sales goals with a commission structure that rewarded sales growth
• Putting key indicator reports into operation particularly with retail personnel
• Implementing a more rigorous strategic planning process
• Joining Vistage – Lisa is a member of Vistage 377 which is chaired by Jeannette Hobson

“Vistage has helped me to stay focused on my responsibilities as the CEO,” she said. Importantly, she said that Vistage has helped her to delegate more and to hire excellent people.

The company’s current strategy is to open more stores in existing markets and to gain acceptance by more managed care plans which is a huge driver in the industry. Despite the growth in Lasik eye surgery, Lisa believes that most people with vision problems will continue to wear eyeglasses because insurance doesn’t cover Lasik.

Working with her brother and her father, Lisa said that it was important to establish boundaries and communicate them.

“For me, there’s nothing worse than sitting at a dinner table with my family talking about sales in a given market,” Lisa said. Her advice: Understand that there is a heightened sense of responsibility in a family business and at the same time know that it’s important to keep your perspective and lead a balanced life.

Last year, Lisa was married to Eli Shouela, who is a private banker. Her multi-dimensional life includes active community involvement and fiction writing. She has served on the board of the Miami City Ballet and supports a number of organizations including Sundance Film Festival, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, City Meals on Wheels and the Jewish Federation. In addition, For Eyes contributes to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation through its Cure Card program and offers free eye exams and eyeglasses to needy individuals through its “Gift for Eyes” program.

Before joining For Eyes in 1989, Lisa attended various graduate creative writing programs, and she is currently working on a novel and a collection of short stories.

“I consider myself a writer first because I’ve always identified myself in that way,” Lisa said. “I try to write in the mornings, even if I just jot down ideas. It helps keep me connected to the creative process,” she said. “My writing centers a lot on women’s issues, gender inequalities and women who are forced by circumstance into ‘smaller’ lives.”

Her business goal is to make For Eyes the brand of choice for optical consumers, and in her personal life, her goals are to start a family and finish her novel.

Many Vistage members work in family businesses and confront situations similar to Lisa’s. Please let me know your thoughts on how to handle transitions and set boundaries between your business and personal life.