Keelings: key lessons from a home-grown Irish business
Caroline Keeling joined the family business for two years. Some 20 years later she is now the CEO of Keelings and she, along with her brother David, outlined to the Nuffield conference the ups and downs of managing a family business.
Like farming, the Keeling fruit and vegetable business was a family one and handing it down to a new generation was, David said, is very difficult.
However, according to Caroline, when young young people are brought into a business they should be encouraged to work on something different and make mistakes.
“Try and get them working on something different and let them make mistakes. So they’re not just following everything the previous generation did. When the next generation is coming in it’s important they don’t just get handed something, they get to change it and develop it.”
Each generation has different skillsets and if you bring the skils from each generation you can create soething special.
Both siblings referred to their use of coaches throughout their own careers with the family business.
According to David, coaches provided a confidant and helped get the best out of him. “I know very little anything but a little about everything, so it’s critical that I have experts in the business.”
While David is now the MD of the retail and market divisions of the business, he admitted that he was not ready to join the family business when he did join.
‘Have a Clear Vision’
Caroline’s key piece of advice for anyone with a business is to “have a clear vision for the business”.
The biggest learnings Caroline had in her career, she said, were when she had just taken over in 2008 and issues with sterling, on-farm investments and customer issues all raised their heads.
“It was a precarious time for the business. The first thing was ‘was I going to be able to lead the company through that and how do we stabilise our core business and make sure that it stays strong’.”
To do this, she said, she had to make herself a better leader. So, as well as business courses, she also set out to improve her own physical intelligence.
“That’s often neglected when running a business and you have to know what is it that helps you manage your stress.”
