by kamal karanththe process and culture of integrating professionals and family members will ultimately decide the longterm success of familyowned businessesevery entrepreneur in india is not building a vcfunded startup to exit eventually at the heart of our country are numerous promoters solving problems and serving their immediate communities many of them have built large businesses survived and sustained generations in some segments they were unchallenged for a long time however the last decade has posed a few questions to familyowned businesses startup worldthe last decade or so has belonged to startups powered by venture capitalists vcs many young indian entrepreneurs have built business models and companies that have challenged or disrupted incumbents of large companies access to capital for daring young entrepreneurs has lifted existing barriers of the 82 unicorns india added in the last few years 43 came in 2021 making it the best year by far with over 1000 startups being funded in a calendar year many of these startups will challenge familyowned businesses if they dont transform their modus operanditalent differentiationthe startup world made huge strides as they could attract top talent who were attracted to top dollar paid by mncs and family conglomerates in the past startups and mncs have made considerable strides in the last decade as they managed their talent pipeline better with attractive financial packages and friendly work cultures this is an area where familyrun businesses must step up to remain competitive the following statements i have heard from senior leaders who quit or leave familyowned businesses they inducted their son into a leadership role straight away who has no clue on the business front rather than asking him to start at the bottom of the pyramid i quit as just when i thought my time had come to lead they got their daughterinlaw to head our business i feel i am a guest at some familys dinner table during board meetings i want to be the playing member not a bystanderso what should familyowned businesses do to keep their competitive advantage or survive for the next decadeempower hrfamilyowned businesses naturally want to have a say in matters related to money and people so they keep someone they can trust in finance and an hr person who says yes to the promoter the first step to transforming talent management is to hire a competent hr head an empowered hr team can then set systems in place to hire the right talent enable meritocracy create an attractive compensation structure and most importantly enable a fair system to manage people its vital to hire professionals who have a broad experience in other companies or industries for hr roles and avoid family members the external perspectives and diverse expertise of these hr professionals will help build a competitive talent management system over a period the key here is giving them the freedom to plan and execute many promoters hire senior hr professionals but fail to empower themcompetitive pay familyrun organisations need