Managing A Family In Family Business Cannot Be Left To Chance: Janmejaya Sinha

BCG India Chairperson Janmejaya Sinha has shared insights on how to bring in structure to the family bit of family businesses and navigate through fights.

In a family business, there is managing the family, then there is managing the company. Managing a family cannot be left to chance, Sinha said in the latest episode of NDTV Profit's Building Legacy show.

He also added that a structure should be created "where family members can debate and think about the issues that the company is facing", and a united front along with a unanimous vote is built. Sinha also strongly advised against cliques forming in the family.

Talking about the founding father, or the "patriarch" or the "superman entrepreneur", the BCG India chairman said as long the patriarch is around, most of these structures do not exist, since he has the final call; but when the siblings come in, they have to be careful about not letting fights and disagreements get disruptive.

As far as whether the patriarch should be the one who puts these structures in place, Sinha holds the view that it depends on the nature of the patriarch — he will decide if he should make this call, or let his successors learn on their own.

Talking about the distinction between managing the family and company, he said that managing the company comes under the rubric of SEBI, the competition commission, the RBI and so on while managing the family comes under the rubric of the parents.