Managing your own public profile
“Entrepreneurial families often prefer not to communicate with the outside world at all. Do you think that makes sense?” Dr. Maren Gräfe asked communications expert Peter Dietlmaier.
“I advise my clients to ask themselves the strategic question: What should others think and know about me? Don't leave it to chance,” replied the partner at CCounselors. “If I want to influence this in my favor, I have to act before a crisis occurs, for example.”
The first step is to find out what is already known about you. “If there are critical issues, the family should discuss internally how they want to deal with them.” In the best case scenario, conflicts should not become public in the first place, but should be resolved within the family. The sudden passing of the owner of a family business was described as an example of a potential crisis situation. “In such cases, it is important to build trust among employees and business partners in order to maintain calm in the wider public sphere. The company is professionally structured and the next generation is also united in its support for the business.” When dealing with the public, it therefore makes sense for entrepreneurial families to “pursue a long-term strategy and shape their own profile before others judge them,” explained Peter Dietlmaier.
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