In this chapter, the speakers discuss the big decisions that need to be made in terms of succession and scaling up in a family business. They consider the possibility of bringing in a professional CEO to ramp up the business and the challenges of someone stepping into a leadership role in a family business. The conversation also touches on the importance of having someone from the management team moving up and the role of outside directors.
Rohit Gera had turned his family’s boutique real estate development firm into a dynamic housing solutions innovator for urban Indian families. But as he prepared to retire, Gera had to decide who would take over for him. Should he define a strategy for future growth and pick a successor who would enact it? Or should he identify his replacement and allow them to set the company’s new strategy? And should Gera’s replacement come from within his family or not?
In this episode, Harvard Business School senior lecturer Christina Wing is joined by Gera to discuss her case, “Gera Developments: Leadership at a Crossroads.” She and Gera explain how to select a growth strategy for the future. They also discuss best practices for ensuring a successful leadership transition in a family business.
Key episode topics include: strategy, growth strategy, family business, leadership, leadership transitions, real estate, India, succession.
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· Listen to the original HBR Cold Call episode: A Family Business at a Crossroads: Scaling and Succession (2021)
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