Interview with Daniela Diletti La Marchigiana, Luca Pacini from La Garzarara Outlet, and Marta Cocci Grifoni from Tenuta Cocci Grifoni
Last May I, Gian Luca and my dad Massimo were interviewed by Giorgia Nardelli of the magazine Modern woman.
The topic of the article was something that touched me deeply, on which I reflected and reflect again: “When the desk neighbor is 30 years older”.
If it is true that in Italy one in two companies is facing the passing of the baton from one generation to another, it is also true that two out of three companies close during (or because of?) this passage.
There are many dynamics that come into play, especially when the relationship is father-children, or even better father daughter. It's not all as simple and beautiful as it seems, quite the contrary. The difficulties are enormous, and before we talk about business management we should take a step back and explore communication problems that take over during this very delicate moment.
The "succession" in the company, whether small or large, is complicated, especially if one happens in the middle unprecedented digital revolution.
The family business has always been run by entrepreneurs, mostly men, with a precise vision that we could define centralizer: the command has always been in their hands.
The first problem, in my opinion, is in the no communication within the walls of the house. The entrepreneur father does not pass on knowledge and the company itself of his own free will. He does not talk about it because he wants to postpone the moment when a new generation will take over, as if this were to replace it and there was no possibility of dialogue and integration. The problem, however, is only one: there is no spontaneous and painless handover.
It is something that must be planned, planned, lived together and certainly does not happen overnight.
I decided to interview two colleagues and a colleague, entrepreneurs and new generation entrepreneurs on this topic: Daniela Diletti aka La Marchigiana, Luca Pacini from La Garzarara Outlet, and Marta Capriotti, from Tenuta Cocci Grifoni.
Daniela produces leather shoes and bags. It was among the first to rejuvenate the gray and dusty image of the craftsman by opening up to digital and telling his reality through social networks.
Just like Luca, who has taken up his father's profession in his own way and today sells leather and hides online, even in small quantities. The material that Luca sells is the same used by high fashion made in Italy, but while in the past the only way to access superior quality leathers was to buy large quantities of leather, today it is possible to buy small quantities or even just one. leather, thanks to its great little revolution.
Marta represents the fifth generation (currently all female) at the helm of Tenuta Cocci Grifoni, a family business that was born from a long tradition of bond with the land and passion for viticulture, with almost a hundred years of experience in the production of native wines from agriculture sustainable. Today the estate also includes a Relais dedicated to wine tourism with a Resort, tasting areas and panoramic views where you can completely relax.
Where does innovation come from?
Michel Bauer, French sociologist, in his book “Between business and family. Transmission and succession in small and medium-sized enterprises "speaks of entrepreneurs with a triple personality: that of" Homo economicus ", that is a man attentive to the economic dimension, that of Homo Politicus, that is the man who wants to guarantee his status built over the years, and that of Pater Familias, who is concerned with how to distribute the wealth he has created to his children and family. Precisely this complexity makes business succession difficult, never linked only to the economic factor.
Bauer also speaks of "dumb children", a concept that impressed me a lot. There are many children who accept their status and do not want to run the family business at all. This "secondary" role guarantees family harmony.
Innovation comes from here, the children's ability to take a stand, to reject that silence, that passive and never guiding role.
This is what Daniela told me when she entered her father's company.
"Dad and mom had a well-structured company, with several employees and an important production. It was closed in 2007, a victim like many other companies in the Marche region of the economic crisis. At that moment I intervened to help my parents move from that entrepreneurship they knew to a new life, so we decided to change the industrial dynamics.
However, there were two big, huge, problems at the start. The first, to restart my parents' business with debt and not with capital. With the closure of my dad's company, the problem was dealing with what we had, that is, very little. The second problem was related to the perception of my figure in business and family dynamics. In this new phase it was difficult to make my parents understand that I could manage the company in a new way and therefore that my contribution, which was initially only a collaboration, had to become the main one. Today I make the most important decisions, always shared with my parents, but it is I who manage the company strategy and consequently the procurement of materials and the distribution of investments over the long term. "
The same thing happened to me and my brother. When I presented myself with Gian Luca to my father, to tell our idea of limited edition shoes, he didn't take it well. It is difficult to convince a man who has set up a company that that system can no longer work, in the light of a society that changes every day. We fought for a long time to create what is now La Scarpetta di Venere, in which my parents also play an important role.
And maybe, the push for change came precisely from the crisis. Without which, perhaps, access to company management would not have been granted to us, or perhaps we would have taken other paths.
There are companies where the handover never happened, as it did at Marta of the Cocci Grifoni Estate.
“At the moment there are three generations talking to each other in our company, with my mother who is the sole administrator and makes the most important decisions.
We live together as if we were roommates: sometimes it is great, other times not. I think the biggest problem is trust. It is difficult for those who "have always done this" to imagine that there are other ways, and that maybe your daughter or your granddaughter can do well in a different way. Thinking about the changing world, the ecological theme for example.
One of the biggest difficulties for me, for example, is make it clear that time dedicated to social media is work, which serves to tell us, to build loyalty, to expand the market. The function of the digital marketing it is difficult to understand and is not shared by generations previous to ours. Time dedicated to social media is work, but it takes away time from what previous generations consider "real work"; it is hard to explain. In reverse, the theme of sustainability it was really welcomed and carried forward, with important and long-lasting investments.
The best thing in a family business is the certainty of being able to rely completely on those around you. It is as if we were one body, of which we are all a part, and when we are in balance everything really works great, with the beauty and authenticity of generations that dialogue and confront each other.
The relationship with suppliers
“Today the relationship is much looser - says Daniela - thirty years ago my dad had to take large quantities of materials because there were always minimum purchases. The warehouses swelled enormously compared to the real needs of the company.
Today I buy the materials I need, I have a smaller but targeted production, I work on order, even if I have a warehouse base with shoes ready for delivery.
I buy from stockists who have recovered all the swollen warehouses and buy the small quantities I need from them, time by time. These new suppliers are more flexible and active than their 30-year-old peers, and we also have the technology on our side. With sites and apps we are able to be faster both in purchases and deliveries.
I was very impressed by Luca's story from La Garzarara Outlet.
"In my father's time, the work was done mostly out of friendship, in the sense that you had your customers, they were loyal, friends who became customers or customers who became friends. The suppliers were untouchable, they never changed, unless the savings were really huge.
THEHuman relationship was fundamental, yes, it was bought for convenience, but first of all for friendship and trust. Customers, producers and suppliers even shared activities outside of work, their passions. The crisis has also ruined these relationships, leading entrepreneurs to delocalize both the purchases of goods and production.
The role of social media
Luca's story is also incredible in other ways, for timing and courage.
“When I joined my father's company, I turned everything upside down. Things had changed, the relationship with customers and suppliers had changed, everyone was running for savings and the family business did not have a peaceful day.
My father and I lived in the company for a few years, after which he retired. In 2016 I decided to expose myself on social media and also telling myself in a rather ironic way I began to collect feedback and requests directly from customers.
More and more producers and small artisans asked me to buy no more meters and meters of leather, but small quantities, sometimes even pieces. So, I had an intuition.
Selling my materials directly online, through a platform and then on my website, then adding a very close customer assistance service to the sale. I made videos to show the leathers, I told myself online and I went directly to those who bought.
Social media brought people together. I found what my father did in the 70s.
This revolution would not have been possible without Luca's courage. Innovation is right here, in overturning the mission company that we have inherited, expanding its vision and breath.
The courage to assert themselves allows the new generation of artisans and entrepreneurs to overturn a situation that in principle appears immutable.
What happens to the skills in the generational transition?
"The the subject of skills is very important and depressing - laughs and tells Daniela - Why the skills have disappeared. My father's generation, men and women who are now 60, is the last to have technical manufacturing skills.
With this generation ending with their retirement, technical skills will be completely lost because there is a gap, a huge gap that no one has yet bothered to fill. Valuable technical and manual skills related to production will disappear within a few years.
There are certainly new ones, linked to communication and marketing, sustainability and the circular economy, which, however, cannot exist without those techniques. It is a difficult time because it is as if two worlds that need each other, that of manufacturing skills and that of digital skills, were not meeting, and this is a shame. "
To conclude, I believe that the added value of this whole process, difficult and never natural, is the innovation that the new generation brings to the company. I, like Daniela, Marta, Luca, did not join the company for to continue the work of my parents, but to revive them, to give them the opportunity to conquer the social and economic redemption they deserved, after years of effort and immense sacrifices.
At the same time, I decided to do business to turn my gaze to new horizons, never even contemplated before.
The value we bring is not only in opening up to the digital world, which is certainly a revolution and allows us to have a direct line with our customers, but it is also and above all a new vision, made up of awareness, ethics, long-term projects, the courage necessary to unhinge all those "it has always been done this way". Only by sharing this vision with other generations and eliminating all prejudices is it possible to truly innovate, even for recover and transmit those skills which, otherwise, are destined to disappear.
