Season 2, Episode 1 of the Family IN Business Podcast
Herschend Family Entertainment has a trademark: “Creating Memories Worth Repeating.” As the largest family-owned themed-entertainment company in the United States, you might think running the business is all fun and games. But as Chris Herschend explains, working cooperatively and productively with family can be difficult.
Is it worth it? Absolutely. Chris, his siblings, and his cousins have been able to define a shared family purpose: to live, love, and serve together. Listen as he shares his lessons learned—and points to what we are “wired to do.” We are also joined by expert Jennifer Pendergast with thoughts on the relationship between individual freedom and shared purpose.
Show Notes:
Theme: Purpose in working together, even through conflicts
Your host:
Esther Choy, President and Chief Story Facilitator of Leadership Story Lab, author of Let the Story Do the Work (AMACOM)
Special thanks to:
Chris Herschend, Chairman of the Board, Herschend Family Entertainment
Jennifer Pendergast, Executive Director of John L. Ward Center for Family Enterprises, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
Contact us: familyenterprises@kellogg.northwestern.edu
Key Moments:
2:54 – Who is Chris, and what’s his business?
4:09 – Employee culture at Herschend Family Entertainment
5:20 – How does purpose manifest in family enterprise?
6:49 – The family’s purpose vs. the enterprise’s purpose
8:07 – How storytelling seeded family conflict within the business
12:16 – How outside perspective helps the Herschend family solve conflicts
14:19 – How three meetings changed the course of the family enterprise
19:02 – Using “Plexiglass,” a poker face, and “the next right thing” in family enterprise
22:27 – What “together” means in the Herschend family’s purpose
25:35 – How individual freedom impacts shared purpose, with Jennifer Pendergast
28:40 – What individual freedom looks like in family enterprise
31:39 – Why Chris believes family enterprise is the best training for life and a great capital structure
34:55 – Chris’s personal purpose
Download “The Messy Business of Family and Why It’s Full of Purpose: Chris Herschend of Herschend Family Entertainment” Transcript-Chris-Herschend-Final.pdf – Downloaded 987 times – 150.68 KB
Next Episode: 2. Creating a Thoughtful Legacy for Family Business: Meghan Juday of IDEAL INDUSTRIES
Better Every Story
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People forget facts, but they never forget a good story. In her book, Esther Choy shares business storytelling methods, examples and practical tools and templates. It’s your essential leadership storytelling toolkit.
People forget facts, but they never forget a good story. In her book, Esther Choy shares business storytelling methods, examples and practical tools and templates. It’s your essential leadership storytelling toolkit.
