The Benefits of Meeting with Other Business Owners

Chris Tanke (01:24)
Today, I’m delighted to have as our special guest Robin Burns of the Family Business Alliance here in West Michigan.

We met Robin maybe a month or so ago and ⁓ really weren’t that terribly familiar with the FBA and we’ve been honestly wondering what have we been missing all of our lives. This is a fabulous organization that comes along very much with one of our priorities here at Navigating Abundance and that is to understand that navigating abundance is a team sport. You cannot do this on your own. Enter in FBA.

and all of the marvelous connecting opportunities they have, groups of people, collaboration to help family businesses in particular, it is a rich environment indeed. So Robin, thank you so much for what you all do. And I’m excited to introduce folks to you and introduce people to the concept because you don’t have to like necessarily live in West Michigan to take advantage of an organization just as this, right?

Robin Burns (02:28)
That’s right. That’s absolutely right. Family Business Alliance in Grand Rapids or based out of West Michigan was started in 2006, Chris, as I had informed you when we previously met. And it was really about pulling family organizations together to create a connected community to facilitate peer learning and enhance an exchange of ideas so that family leaders continue to thrive.

and create an impact here in our own community.

Chris Tanke (02:58)
Mm-hmm, and so it began in 2006 and in in in this this organized I shouldn’t say chapter but in this iteration of a family business organization This was really connected ultimately back to the Chamber of Commerce. Is that right in in Grand Rapids?

Robin Burns (03:14)
Correct.

but actually originally back in the day, the study of family businesses started out in universities and that’s where you’ll find some of these other centers is based out of universities. So our memorandum was written as a joint venture between Grand Valley State University and the local Grand Rapids Chamber.

as a way to bring family business leaders together in an effort to, as I mentioned before, to preserve that family business operations and their impact here in our community.

In 2013, we spun off from the educational university. They wanted to focus just on family business education, and we were focusing on the membership aspect. So we work in collaboration for events, for programming, to bring in nationally recognized speakers. But we operate independently from a university.

Chris Tanke (04:09)
So if you could just give us a high altitude view of, well, if somebody like us was sitting down with you saying, talk to us about what the FBA can do for us or what you all offer, what would be the advantage of me connecting with you? Because frankly, I’m a very busy professional. OK, so why should I slow down and work with you guys?

Robin Burns (04:24)
Right. And I think that is the biggest

challenge, Chris, is finding time, right? Business owners, families are busy, and to carve out that time to join an association.

people are concerned, do I have the time and what would be the value proposition that I would receive from it? And how FBA is unique in our marketplace as well as across the country is we are a community, a connected community of specifically family business leaders. So we offer the opportunity to learn about family business operating structure, family business dynamics,

business communications, family ownership, and we’re the only organization that’s offering that programming. And we both know that operating in a family business, while it has plenty of opportunities to build legacy, to create impacts in your community, there’s also those challenges. And…

Understanding how to best navigate those challenges through peer feedback and best practices and the experience of others is really the sweet spot about FBA. The secret sauce about our association is every single member who joins and their willingness to engage and share their insight and perspective. You asked, know, why would I carve out the time? Because our community is so giving that the members will

contact me to say, you know, Robin, I’m looking to create an independent board of directors or I’m struggling with whether or not I should bring my next generation other sibling into this business. And do you have anybody I can talk to about this very personal matter in a confidential safe space? And I can call another member and say, I know you walked this down this line a little bit ago. Would you mind having a cup of coffee with Joe who you’ve never met?

And every time I have a member who responds, I’d be happy to do that. Please connect me.

Chris Tanke (06:25)
How valuable is that? ⁓

Robin Burns (06:29)
Yeah, mean, it’s putting a peak

behind the curtain, you know? It’s a peak behind the curtain and that doesn’t exist in every business community.

Chris Tanke (06:38)
I love that. I love that. know, we are fond of saying here navigating an abundance. is wise to learn from your own mistakes. And oftentimes you pay a hefty tuition to make the mistake. That’s how life works. But you know what, Robin, it’s what’s even better is it’s brilliant to learn from other people’s mistakes. That’s what you’re saying. Sit down with somebody who’ve been through it before. Because, you know, look, generally human beings, if we can just slow down and have a conversation, which is our biggest problem.

Robin Burns (06:55)
Yeah

Chris Tanke (07:06)
human beings want to help each other. And that is really cool when you can have a conversation with somebody who has been where you’re about to go and to add some salt and light into what’s ahead of you so that you can make better decisions and to support you in that. I find that the most exciting, ⁓ heartwarming thing about having an organization like this where people would be willing to share and help each other.

That’s what life is all about, frankly. I think that’s cool. I think the process is almost better than the results.

Robin Burns (07:37)
Right.

Well, and Chris, know leadership is lonely, right? And every family business leader is in a position of having to navigate a lot of those challenges and opportunities by themselves. And we create an opportunity for us to introduce you to somebody or for you to meet somebody who’s in the exact same seat as you.

who wants to see you benefit from the conversation as well as themselves. And so, you know, that’s a rare opportunity to be able to, it’s very important to have that peer network so that you don’t feel alone, that somebody does understand your challenges. You wanna be in a room with people who are experiencing some of those same opportunities and challenges.

Chris Tanke (08:27)
That’s fantastic. That’s fantastic. Well, let’s talk about I want to jump in right to the peer program because this is in line with what we’re talking about to a degree. I mean, you can one on one with somebody with a coffee, but boy, there is actually a proactive connecting approach that you guys take through your peer program. My daughter, Stephanie,

Is going to be joining one designed for folks kids young people young professionals in her position I’m gonna be joining one that’s for older people like me, but Wow, could you describe? What what you’re seeing what you’re offering and and some of the fruit of that

Robin Burns (09:05)
Yeah, so peer groups come together. You said younger and older. We call them now and next, right? our group, we, you can be a next generation family member or a now generation family leader. And so we curate these groups, taking into consideration the relative size and scope as much as we can of your business, where you are and what we call your leadership journey. Are you?

Chris Tanke (09:11)
There you go, that’s better.

Robin Burns (09:31)
looking to maybe transition to the next generation as a now-gen leader and want to navigate how do you do that effectively for the family that you’ve brought into your business? Or are you in next-gen looking to create opportunities, build trust, gain the leadership skills that you need to navigate being the next-generational leader and carrying on the founders legacy forward?

And so, you know, trying to balance the blessing and the burden as they say, right, for our next generation member. So we bring these groups together, they make a commitment to spend time with one another. The first year for a next gen is they’re getting to know each other, they’re getting to know each other’s business.

Chris Tanke (10:00)
Mm-hmm.

Robin Burns (10:11)
so that they can offer insight and ⁓ collaborate on issues that they might bring to the table. And so these groups are set up for any business or personal or professional goals that that individual would like to meet. And again, going back to what I said, leadership is lonely, right? So think of eight individuals in your peer group.

⁓ that you had developed this relationship with, that you can bring to them any problems or challenges within the business or the family. And they have the understanding and can work with you to help you collaborate. They won’t solve your problems for you, but they can help identify, I had a similar experience and this is what worked for me. And so these groups,

get together once a month and they make the commitment to each other to hold each other accountable. For example, know, why a group member might hold another group member accountable is, you know, I was going to talk to my dad about these, ⁓ allowing me to expand into this product line, but I received resistance. And so he comes back to the group and they’re like, well, what have you done about that? And the leader has to identify

Chris Tanke (11:19)
Mm-hmm.

Robin Burns (11:22)
Well, I didn’t readdress. Well, didn’t you say you were going to readdress? And so they hold each other accountable for the goals that they want to obtain.

And for that reason, these groups, we have groups that have been together for 16, 17 years. The same group members, they, I had one person say to me, I want my children to know that other peer group members children. These people become so critical and important in their lives that they want their children to know each other and grow up with each other.

Chris Tanke (11:53)
That’s

fantastic. The truth of the matter is there’s a lot of wisdom in the room. You just have to spend some time to drive over to the room. You know, I love that so much.

Robin Burns (12:02)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, they meet

once a month for three or four hours at a time. I mean, they’re making that commitment because the fruits of that, you mentioned, you what are the fruits of that labor? What are the fruits of that work? Number one, it definitely creates an opportunity for you to develop your authentic leadership skills because you are helping lead other people to the goals and the selves that they want to be.

Chris Tanke (12:09)
Yeah.

Robin Burns (12:32)
And that’s what leadership is really about, right? It’s not about what you want. It’s about what the other person on your team or in your profession wants. And this is helping them get to where they want and being there to support their journey and helping them hold themselves accountable to that process. you know, one of the things is it really helps you enhance your leadership skills. It helps you improve your understanding of business operations on the scale.

So, ⁓

And then also it helps to help you broaden your influence and gain the ability to understand and process diverse perspectives, right? Because you’ve got eight people in the room who had eight different experiences growing up in their family business who are leading their business and being open to a different perspective with how somebody else leads and challenging yourself to identify how can I learn from that experience?

Chris Tanke (13:13)
Mm-hmm.

And the world has become so complicated and so driven and so fast paced. We are more and more and more ducking down in our silos just to get our work done. This this puts you out of that breaks you free of that at least for a little bit and to give you some other perspective that you know how are you going to find this it’ll be difficult to have this by reading you know great books on you know family succession planning.

Robin Burns (13:43)
Correct, correct. mean.

Chris Tanke (13:59)
and they’re out there, but how much better to talk about this and to emote and to bounce ideas off each other? That’s just invaluable.

Robin Burns (14:03)
Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I

Collectively, we operate better, right? Collectively, we operate better. So for example, during the pandemic, these groups might have been used for how are you dealing with temperature checks? How are you handling your handbook revisions? What’s your return to office policy? And having that free flow exchange of ideas and understanding how to utilize that information for the betterment of your organization. Today, I would imagine some of the conversation is about the tariffs, right?

Chris Tanke (14:37)
Mm-hmm.

Robin Burns (14:38)
What are you doing about the costs? How are you managing that? And some of the conversations, frankly, in your area of expertise, Chris, might be, how are you managing the wealth transfer? What are you doing to engage your children and educating your children about wealth? And how can I help with that?

Chris Tanke (14:50)
Mm-hmm.

Robin Burns (14:58)
So those are all kinds of conversations. I’m sure that happens in those groups. They’re very confidential. I don’t get privy to them. The nice thing about them is, I had somebody ask me today, the group, what’s the topic? The topic is determined by the eight people in the room. And that’s what makes it worth your time. You’re determining the topic.

Chris Tanke (15:19)
Hmm. That’s pretty exciting stuff. You know, again, I just think that it’s easier to lift a burden when there’s a group of people doing it. I think it’s just so great to have that human contact in areas that we have general commonality, have a group of people that’s for one another.

prodding one another, encouraging one another, maybe holding each other accountable. You know, it’s, again, our whole world is, especially through social media, actually isolates us from that sort of thing. If you were to take the plunge into this kind of peer connection opportunity, ladies and gentlemen, you would be blessed to buy it for sure. So wherever you are, you don’t have to be in West Michigan. There are opportunities for you to do that. We’ll speak of that ⁓ in a little bit.

Could I switch a little bit and talk about ⁓ maybe the calendar of maybe educational events and whatnot? mean, if somebody says, I’m allergic to other people, I don’t want to be in a peer group, but I sure would like to join the Family Business Alliance. There are many other things that they can plug into safely as they’re trying to check out if these are the kind of people that I would want to have a cup of coffee with someday.

Robin Burns (16:23)
Yeah.

Right, I would

agree with you, right? We’re here to meet everybody on their journey and what works for them.

Chris Tanke (16:35)
Right.

Robin Burns (16:37)
So we have peer group programs, as I mentioned. that’s about 60 % of our membership does a peer group, but that is not for everybody because of their individual style. If they would like to attend a larger group event and network and meet other families or be inspired by other families, ⁓ Family Business Alliance, as well as some of the other centers across the country, bring in nationally recognized subject matter experts on family business.

Chris Tanke (16:55)
Right.

Robin Burns (17:04)
opportunity. Family business leaders are in our country are one of the most humble leaders I’ve met. We’ve had the privilege of hosting

Chick-fil-A, the founder’s daughter, Trudy Kathy White. We are scheduled to have the Vitamix, a Vitamix family business member come in this year and share her story of how she was able to align the family and the business and then the business took off. Next year we have Tabasco. So, you know, this is over a hundred year old business that continues to operate independently. So we want to provide those inspirational stories. We want to provide subject matter experts. We also

offer ⁓ peer group, sorry not peer group, workshops, what we call pop-up workshops where we have economists share their insights for family businesses or strategies on how to build AI into your family business strategic plan. Another opportunity might be to participate in one of our programs. We have a succession program where you work with a facilitator to have conversations with your next generation. are building, we

a leadership program that offers leadership guidance to family business leaders to help create alignment in the family to keep the family legacy moving forward. And then next year we’re announcing several new programs. One, ⁓ a very challenging conversation, compensation in the family business. How do you navigate compensation in the family business as well as build a board of directors and engage your next generation. So we encourage our members to engage with what

programs are best suited for themselves and it’s not a one-size-fits-all.

Chris Tanke (18:40)
And of course we had some of you have watched our podcast before Tom Amy was on and he Heena is it who’s a fellow from sly? What’s his name? Rob sly yeah, this is a very informal podcast. What’s that guy’s name again? Anyway, but but but they they put on a Really really powerful succession seminar which

Robin Burns (18:53)
Rob Sly.

Yeah.

Chris Tanke (19:04)
most family businesses are going to be facing that a lot of your folks take advantage of too. So there’s a lot of really good educational opportunities that you can plug into if you’re so fortunate to be within driving range of the Family Business Alliance here in West Michigan. But again, these sort of things can be replicated. And maybe we should talk about that right now because I feel like it’s, I’m sort of like saying, well, it’s just too bad you live in Topeka because wouldn’t you really love to take advantage? No, no, no, no.

So let’s talk about somebody in Topeka that is salivating over this thing. Aye, aye, aye, I knew I should have stayed in Michigan. You’re scratching where they’re itching. They have needs, as you’re discussing, they love to plug in. How do they begin to find an organization like this? Can they maybe find an organization? How would you advise them?

Robin Burns (19:52)
you

So there is, you know, as I mentioned before, most some a lot of centers are based number one, out of educational your local college or educational system. So I would check with the Family Business Center there first. For example, ⁓ in our neck of the woods in the Midwest University of Toledo has a fantastic Family Business Center called the Conway Family Business Center. Saginaw State has a Family Business Center that operates out of the university. So

My first advice would be to check ⁓ the large college university in your area. Inquire within the business center if they have a family business operating arm. I am happy to connect people. Since you do live maybe ideologically in Topeka, Kansas, there’s a center called the Prairie Family Business Center.

Chris Tanke (20:41)
Perfect.

Robin Burns (20:41)
And they serve a wide range of states. They have an annual summit every year, but I’m a part of a Director’s Alliance and it’s other family business centers. Again, we all vary in our makeup or shape or how we’re funded, but our mission and our purpose is all the same. It’s really to help family business leaders on their journey. So you could certainly check with your local college or university. You can reach out to me and we refer

within our network all the time to help families out, to meet the mission and goal that’s a common goal that we all share, which is to see family enterprise continue to thrive in the United States.

Chris Tanke (21:20)
That’s fantastic and collaboration is the way to go. So even if you’re listening and I guess that was Topeka is too populated an area. If you’re in Chigger Creek, Louisiana, we probably could connect you and you could get some support like that. Let’s talk about, let’s shift if you will, let’s talk about some of the fun that the Family Business Alliance offers. There has to be social events and

Robin Burns (21:36)
Yeah.

Chris Tanke (21:45)
I would say because again if you’re going to mix with people and maybe start having the introductions necessary to carry on even other conversations that could have you got to get people together. What kind of things what kind of things can I look forward to for the family business alliance each year.

Robin Burns (21:56)
Yeah.

Are

you a speech shooter, Chris?

Chris Tanke (22:03)
⁓ A poor one. I like to hunt pheasants,

but oftentimes I let them go. I’m really there to watch the dog work. But yes, that’s the best part of me, frankly. But yeah.

Robin Burns (22:08)
Yeah. Yeah.

⁓

One of our signature social events is our annual ski shoot. We just completed it last week. And we’ve been doing that for 12 years. And again, our association enjoys nearly 90 % retention rate. So we have some of the same members come year after year to do the skied event. We do a social golf event. And then we also have ⁓ networking opportunities ahead of each event.

for families to connect with one another. And there are times where we’ll do ⁓ unique family dinners to meet our keynote or our family business speaker and bring them in a more intimate setting so that they can meet and enjoy, get to know the family business speaker on a different level.

Chris Tanke (22:57)
That’s a great opportunity too. And how many families are in the association right now, the Alliance?

Robin Burns (23:03)
We’re nearly 200 organizations. So, you know, I laugh when we first started, when they first started in 2006, I looked back at some of the history papers and it started with eight members and there were eight people at their first event. So, you know, we’ve come a long way in 2020 by 2025.

Chris Tanke (23:16)
Yeah.

⁓ wow.

Robin Burns (23:27)
Typically, our annual family forum has 250 family business professionals at an event. I think our founders, if they’re looking down on us, would be proud.

Chris Tanke (23:38)
Yeah, and good news is meant to be shared. So I’m not surprised that it is multiplied from there. And that’s that’s that’s a that’s a fantastic thing. All right. Well, Robin, I’m going to come in for a landing here now. And and I maybe I’ll turn the mic over to you and say, you know, if somebody’s on the fence, say, maybe I should call those guys. What would you say? Do you think?

Robin Burns (23:52)
Yes.

I think really the gift is the community and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. That willingness to help one another and to navigate, like I said, the opportunities and the challenges because the intent is to make sure that in our community, family businesses thrive. And I think…

You know, as I mentioned before, I understand the challenge of time. You know, I’m constantly evaluating how do I balance time. But I think that for a family member to invest the time would be beneficial to us and to their employees, to their families and to the community. Because it is a little bit of a thankless job.

Chris Tanke (24:31)
Mm-hmm.

Robin Burns (24:53)
But to be in the room and know that the work that you’re doing is appreciated and valued and that other people are, there’s 200 other families that are rooting for you to succeed, that’s precious.

Chris Tanke (25:03)
Hmm.

And I would just add as well as I’ve said in other podcasts, oftentimes, very often of times, you’ll actually go faster if you go a little slower. So maybe you need to pull back a little bit and recharge your batteries and connect with people that are like minded, the people that could just they’re already in your corner just because you have this the the the sympathy and synergy of family business and be able to ⁓

leave that refreshed with some new ideas. Just one new idea a year could change your entire business. So wow, mean, just, you know, take some time, not just to work the business to work on your business by working on yourself and connect with an organization such as this. I can’t tell you how blessed we are and excited.

My daughter and I are to be involved with you guys even right here. That is just really great.

Robin Burns (26:02)
Yeah, I

think really and truly when people ask me like how will I understand the value? Will this create a value or impact for me? to me, it’s in the member retention rate. People would not continue to renew their membership with us.

Chris Tanke (26:17)
Mm-hmm.

Robin Burns (26:19)
year over year if they didn’t feel they derived the value from the events, from the programming, from the connections, and the community. And so to have a 90 % retention rate of our membership and to continue to grow is very important to us and it’s a true testament of the experience that one will receive.

Chris Tanke (26:37)
Yeah.

All right. That’s fantastic. Okay. Well, Robin, thank you so much for spending some time with us today. ⁓ Best way to contact you, would you say, if somebody wanted to do more?

Robin Burns (26:49)
Yeah, our website is fbagr.org. My email is robin at fbagr.org. There is an online pop up for you to sign up for our newsletter or you could just reach out to me direct. I welcome the opportunity to learn about your family, to learn about your story and see how we can help.

Chris Tanke (27:11)
There you go. And again, as we said, even if you’re in Topeka or Chigger Creek, as you can tell, Robin is a very approachable person and would love to coach you a little bit and to assist you. You know, if you’re having trouble finding maybe a group and you know, if you find a group that’s three hours away, that’s awesome. That’s close enough. Go get involved with it. It’s worth the drive. It’s worth the flight. Let’s go faster.

Robin Burns (27:35)
Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Tanke (27:38)
by going slower and connecting with people that are rowing in the same boat that you’re in. I mean, how valuable is that? It’s very, very exciting to me.

Robin Burns (27:48)
Yeah,

yeah. Well, thank you so much for your opportunity and having me on this podcast, Navigating Abundance and with Strategic Financial Group. I really appreciate all that you’re doing to help families navigate some of those challenges as well.

Chris Tanke (28:00)
Well, thank you for those kind words. We appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s it for Navigating Abundance. Look forward to speaking with you next time. In the meantime, remember, as always, your family is worth it.