CHICAGO — Passing down a family business is an age-old tradition, but in an industry as complex as dry cleaning, it’s important to pass leadership lessons along, as well, while allowing the new generation to explore new ideas.

In Part 1 of this series, we examined how younger generations can earn leadership roles in organizations where people have watched them grow up. In Part 2, we explored the strengths that each generation brings to the table when it comes to operating the business. Today, we’ll conclude by looking at how succession planning can change relationships, and close with advice for those beginning the transition process.

Often, a transition isn’t as much a changing of the guard as it is a careful continuation.

“I just would like to keep what he’s built going,” says Andrew Strong, son of Robert Strong, owner of Country Club Cleaners in San Ramon, California. “I want him to know that I’m not going to ruin his legacy or try to change anything. I want to keep things how they are and move forward with what he has already built.”

Dan Shvartshteyn, son of Alex Shvartshteyn, owner of London Cleaners in Cleveland, expects the process to be slower than he once assumed.

“Going into this, I thought it was going to be he’s just here one day and the next day he’s not,” he says. “The more we’ve gone through this, the more I’m realizing just how wrong I was. There’s way more to cross than I ever gave it credit for. He’s slowly slowing down, taking more days off, allowing people to see him less. Hopefully, it won’t be a shock to the staff when it happens.”

Alex Shvartshteyn sees an advantage in stretching the timeline out: “It gives Dan an opportunity to deal with things day to day and make mistakes and still have me available to help him correct it and learn from it, versus the old owner is gone and the new owner is here and has no idea what to do.”

Working side by side has changed how both duos relate to each other outside the business, too.

“When I go into my dad’s office now, I see a boss and not my dad,” Andrew Strong says. “When he gets mad at me or tells me, ‘This isn’t right,’ I take it on the chin. I understand that he’s the guy. He built this from zero, and I need to take that knowledge and utilize it.”

Alex Shvartshteyn has watched the change from the other side of the desk. “I just saw Dan growing up in a big way, maturing,” he says. “He’s gotten married. He has two kids. Watching the father and the husband really surprised me in a positive way.”

Dan agrees, and turns the observation back on himself. “Now that I see day to day what is involved in running the business, I don’t question things the way I used to,” he says. “I would just say I used to come at it from a less mature point of view. There’s more to it than I ever really realized.”

Asked what they’d tell a father-son team at the beginning of this process, all four struck a similar note: Don’t force it, and don’t let the business decide who you are to each other.

“As a father, I think it’s important not to put pressure on your child to join the family business,” Robert Strong says. “The process has to be driven by the son or daughter.”

He traces that philosophy back to his own father, who ran a construction company. “He never once tried to groom me to take over his business. He always encouraged his kids to go out and do whatever it was they wanted to do.”

Alex Shvartshteyn frames it as a question of mutual respect.

“You have to come from the standpoint of respect for each other, and it truly goes both ways,” he says. “I have to respect some of the things the younger generation knows, and it’s also important for the younger generation to understand that a person has been in this position for many years and knows what they’re doing.” 

Alex adds one more rule, hard-won over 25 years of working with his son: “You cannot cross business and personal. We talk business at home sometimes, and that’s fine. But you cannot take a passionate disagreement from the business and bring it to the dinner table when the grandkids and spouses are there.”

Dan Shvartshteyn points to something his father did for two decades without ever explaining why. 

“He would ask me when things were bad, and he would ask me the same question when things were good,” Dan says. “‘Are you sure that this is something you want to do?’ I would constantly have to reassure him that yes, this is still the path I want to take. That question was helpful. Anybody can quit when things are tough. But he asked even when things were going well.”

“There are going to be a lot of ups and downs,” Andrew Strong says. “You just have to trust yourself and your father. There have been times when I’ve wanted to quit and try something else, but I went home, looked at myself and said, ‘No, you’ve got to stay here and go through it to get to where you want to be.’”

For Robert Strong, the reward has already arrived, ahead of any formal handover.

“This business, which I started over 40 years ago, means a lot to me,” he says. “Knowing that my son wants to take it over and continue the legacy will be a great accomplishment for both of us. Working with my son has been an unexpected joy.”                                         

For Part 1 of this series, click HERE. For Part 2, click HERE.