Episode Description:
In this episode, host Elizabeth Ledoux is joined by Danielle Scimeca, a lawyer and entrepreneur who runs one of her family’s businesses, FCT Water Treatment, and is involved with other family businesses. Tap or click the play button below to listen to: Legacy Building & the Role of Family in Business Growth with Danielle Scimeca.
In this episode, Elizabeth and Danielle discuss succession planning and business growth with a family-owned company. They also explore the challenges of succeeding a business owner, including lack of clarity and communication. Danielle also opens up about the challenges of transitioning a business, including the emotional toll on the shareholders and the need for vulnerability and open communication.
Thank you to Danielle Scimeca for being on the show.
Connect with Danielle Scimeca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-scimeca-esq-519604279/
FCT Water’s website: https://fctwater.com/
Connect with Elizabeth Ledoux and the Transition Strategists:
Website: https://transitionstrategists.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetransitionstrategists
Elizabeth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethledoux/
Transition Strategists on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/transitionstrategists/
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Get Elizabeth Ledoux and Laura Chiesman latest book, “It’s A Journey: The MUST-HAVE Roadmap to Successful Succession Planning”: https://amzn.to/3oq2LQv
This episode was produced by Story On Media & Marketing: https://www.successwithstories.com.
Legacy Building & the Role of Family in Business Growth with Danielle Scimeca Transcript
Danielle Scimeca: I think there’s some things stopping them. I do think they meet the shareholders, my dad, brother, like I mentioned, I do think they need to sit down and have a conversation first amongst themselves. And I don’t, at least as far as I know, that hasn’t happened. And so I feel like there’s a block there. And I don’t really know why. But for some reason, there’s a block there. And I think after that block was overcome, I think, then they would be more willing to sit down. But right now, they don’t even know what they want. And so they’re not willing to, you know, sit down with all of us.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Welcome to the business transition roadmap. My name is Elizabeth Ledoux. And through my years, I have seen how communities thrive. When business succession and transition are done. Well, me and my team at the transition strategists have been helping business owners develop and implement transition strategies for over 30 years. And on this show, we want to help you by giving you the roadmap to a healthy business transition. Let’s get started. Hi, everybody, and welcome back to the business transition roadmap. I am so excited to be here with Danielle’s can Mecca. She is a person that I’ve been getting to know over probably the last year and a half or so. And just I appreciate her so much. So Danielle, thank you for being here with us today and for everything that you’re going to share.
Danielle Scimeca: Thank you, Elizabeth. I’m so happy to be here.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Danielle is a successor and she is currently the president of FCT water. She’s got a great background and is a lawyer by degree and so she acts is not only the president for that company and the general counsel for it as well, but also the general counsel for I believe all of the family businesses that your dad has been the founder and entrepreneur for so anyway, Daniel, tell us a little bit about you and about how you got to where you are today.
Danielle Scimeca: Yeah. So I I got my undergraduate degree in philosophy and history from CU Boulder. And realize there was really only one path with that. And that was the law school. So there I went. I got my law degree from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, which was unexpected, unexpectedly fantastic. Um, I started practicing in the Carolinas, and then ended up coming home and working for the family business. And at the time, I was just doing the legal work for the business. And then I slowly started to take on more and more responsibility. And yeah, I have now found myself running our water treatment business with my brother in law.
Elizabeth Ledoux: He’s nice. So tell us a little bit maybe about the family business or family businesses. Just kind of yeah, what’s the scope of that? And maybe a little bit about how those came to be? Yeah,
Danielle Scimeca: so my dad started his first business in 1991. And it was it was called Florida sir tech. It’s still around today. And they manufacture chemicals for the PCB board industry. And then you know, they did that for a little while and then 2002 They added FCT water treatment. And then they added another company in 2004, which is now their largest company FCT assembly. And then they have from then on, they’ve merged, taken a division and merged with another one, and they have another recycling company. So at this moment in time, we have about five family companies. I’ll refer to them as for today.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Sounds great. And in your family companies. I think that you have quite a few different family members working in some are all right. Yeah,
Danielle Scimeca: yeah, absolutely. So my dad started the business with his one of his best friends. And later on shortly after the 1991 when it started, my uncle got involved my dad’s brother, and he is still a shareholder and does is involved on the day to day basis for one of the businesses as well. Like I mentioned, I run the water treatment company with my brother in law, so he’s involved I and my husband works for runs one of the a different company. And yeah, I’m sure I’m missing people, but it’s a complicated web.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Right. Right. And and, you know, I, it’s interesting, I think, for people to hear a little bit about that background and sort of how it’s put together. Because yeah, it’s not unusual to have a business owner who’s successful start other companies besides the first one. And also, to include different family members and different aspects of it, depending on their interest level, and also their skills that they might Yeah. Well,
Danielle Scimeca: and that’s it. I mean, you’ve, you’ve met my dad, Elizabeth, at least once. And he is, when I look at, at him what he’s built, and just the legacy that he’s, well, he’s still alive, just to be clear, the legacy, he will leave, he is extremely generous, like he is the most generous person he sees every glass is half full always. And he believes the best in people, he is a people forward person, and that will never change. And so you know, when he has an opening, or we’re struggling with something, the first thing is like, Who do I know that has this really unique skill set? And oftentimes, the Who do I know comes from within? Right, it comes from family or friends. And you know, that’s not always a good thing. But I’m of the opinion, that’s not always a bad thing, either.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah, I think that that it gives people opportunity. And earlier today, we were doing our we were running our big six program. That’s just it’s a six week program, where we, each week, the people that are in it go through one of the tools in the big six questions. So the four, the four w’s, right, the why the what the who, the when, and then the how and how much are the other two. But we were in that and it’s terrific how business owners are optimistic at times about people skills and providing opportunities for them, even when they have to go figure it out, or learn it or do something like that. It’s, you know, it’s I think, where some innovation comes, but it’s also where people around them start to feel kind of honored and good about what they can do and what they can learn.
Danielle Scimeca: Yeah, definitely. And that’s what I’ve seen in and out working with my dad for sure.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah. Which is really cool. So I love your perspective as a successor. Because in my experience, the successors, learning curve is so big, and it’s so steep at times. So I’m appreciative that you’re here to share just kind of what your journey has been, like coming into these businesses. And yeah, so what, when, when coming in, what is worked for you? What’s been great, great support, great things that you might have done, what’s been great.
Danielle Scimeca: So I think, first things first is I’ve always had have a very special relationship with my dad. And I get to live that you know, every day, so there’s something really great about that. And it’s not always great, trust me, it’s not always great. But but that has been nice and and I like I like to learn I’m curious. I like pace. And so in a way that learning curve sometimes has become overwhelming for sure, no question, but it’s also nice because I don’t like to be stuck anywhere. So it’s good. It’s been a good way for me to kind of just keep growing and find my footing. I think the other thing that’s been good I want to say for for both parties is it provides a little bit of I don’t know if security is the word or maybe stability but for me, I came back and started working for the family businesses. When I found out I was pregnant with my first child. And so to me, you know, working from a with a law firm, billable hours, all of that stuff. I was like, Oh, that’s not exactly what I want when I’m a mom. So I came here and you know, I have Look, any business like I have a little more flexibility than I had previously. Which has been nice. But I think from my dad’s perspective, too, he doesn’t have to search so far for an exit strategy in some of these ways. And it’s not just me to make that clear. You know, my husband in the one business, my brother in law, maybe a third party, but there’s somebody else along the way, kind of helping him. In me, I always joke that I’m the when people ask me my job title, I tell them, I’m the Hand of the King for all those that are Game of Thrones lovers out there. Like, yeah, I’m the strategy behind the man. Because, you know, and I think that works for both of us. I think that’s really worked so far, for sure. The other thing is that I’m super competitive. And he’s really competitive, and a lot of us are really competitive. And so it’s kind of fun. It’s a fun environment, we bring that out, and each other, which is really enjoyable.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah, that’s great. That’s great. And it’s glad that you can be competitive together. Appreciate Yeah, the drive, I guess behind it. Yeah. That’s very cool. Very cool. So so when you think about, you know, just over the years, what has what’s been more challenging? Maybe, that you look back and you go, man, that was really not good. It didn’t work, or potentially something that was just so confusing that you wish it would have been cleared up ahead of time?
Danielle Scimeca: Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I think I’m still living in that space. So I can speak from a now perspective as well. I wish the, the path was a little bit more defined. Or at least even the params. Like the bumpers on the path, like let’s if you don’t want to define the path itself, like let’s at least agree on some parameters. And I’m not even I know, I’m not speaking just for myself. They’re either my husband, my brother in law, I think we all all of us as successors, we all feel that pain a little bit of, okay, what is the roadmap for us here? What exactly is the end goal? And I think there’s, there feels like there’s a lack of transparency or a lack of understanding and like, what exactly is the objectives of the shareholders? And to be completely honest, I’m not entirely sure that the shareholders are on the same page as far as what the path is. So I think that’s probably the biggest struggle right now. Is just feeling slightly lost and where we’re going.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah, and, and I’m going to ask the question, so I kind of around in a story or an experience, setting the, from what I’ve seen when I come in and work with successors, and we’ve done that in our firm. Yeah, what we’ve found is there’s a that the founder, Owner, wealth creator, is navigating forward. Yep. And they’re still engaged in those. They’re still working and working hard, bringing in those successors, and teaching and doing all of those things. And, you know, providing opportunity. So there’s all good in that. And sometimes there’s not because the owner founder doesn’t know for sure what they’re interested in or have all the pieces of the puzzle. They actually don’t communicate that because they’re unsure themselves, of where they’re headed. And many times when you get family members involved in things, the you’re afraid to make a statement because it’s almost like a promise. Yeah, it almost comes out that way. Right. And so, so yeah, you get afraid to say something, but you also are unsure of truly, where you’re headed and what you want. On the successor side, that creates the opportunity for people not to know where they’re going not to be able to engage not to be able to commit, and the team just can’t work together in the same way that it might be able to, if there was something ahead.
Danielle Scimeca: Yeah, exactly. And you know, it’s funny, because I feel like my dad is. I know, I said he was that wasn’t transparent, but sometimes he’s too transparent, where he does say things and then you’re like, hey, well, is that something we’re following? Like? Is that for sure? Is that something we’re following up on here? Or is are we working through things? So I think even that, like he’s very transparent, but that’s still cool. relates this lack of there’s still a lack of clarity on like, what is and what isn’t. And I think I have a more open relationship with him maybe than anybody else. So I can call it as I see it like, hey, that doesn’t make sense. Is that for real? Or is it not for real? What do we need to do to get there? But a lot of other people don’t have that relationship. So, yeah, so it makes it even more challenging.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah. So do they come to you to be the spokesperson to go tap him on the shoulder and say, to that person,
Danielle Scimeca: sometimes for sure, or it’s more like I hear the noise. And then I feel like I have to say to him, Hey, I don’t know exactly what you said here. But there’s some there’s some noise going on in the background, you might need to clean up. Yeah.
Elizabeth Ledoux: So so how do you think it would, you know, just wandering down that road? How do you think it would help you? And maybe also the other successors to have the bumpers to have that? Yeah,
Danielle Scimeca: I think we could all I know, this is a common phrase, but I think it would just get us all to where we’re going faster, more efficiently. You know, without, as I don’t want to say mistakes, but without the little bumps in the road or hiccups. And then, you know, not that there’s ever any hostility, there’s really not, but or very rarely, but you get all of that on a way. Like it all goes away. And now we’re working from a place of openness. And, you know, what exactly are we doing? We all know, we’re all moving there. Same direction. Yeah. Yeah, same speed even because some some of us might want to go faster than others. And I think that’s a point of contention sometimes, too. So there’s a lot of little nuances that I feel like are still not answered.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah. I used to a long time ago, I used to do a presentation. And I used to think I used to imagine, or have the audience imagine like, a dog sled. Right, the businesses, the dog sled. And yeah, you’ve had maybe one dog, right, the owner founder, leading that dog sled. And it’s pretty good because they can move and turn and do whatever they want to. And then as you start to add dogs under this, you know, this team, if you have one dog that kind of goes slower than the other one that’s kind of moving to the right instead of forward, and one who you know, wants to go faster. And they’re just kind of doing their own thing, because they don’t know where they’re headed, and how fast they’re gonna get there. You can imagine how rough the ride is in that dog sled. Right.
Danielle Scimeca: I feel that I feel that so much right now. Like, yes, absolutely.
Elizabeth Ledoux: That’s so funny. That’s so funny. So um, yeah. So as as you have come into this. What, what do you think is completely missing? completely missing?
Danielle Scimeca: Um, let’s see. What’s completely missing? I think. I think the I don’t know if it’s completely missing. But I think an understanding, I think getting everybody into a room. So what’s missing is the fact that we haven’t all sat down. We haven’t all had a seat at the table. Together. We’ve I think we’ve all I guess, I don’t know for sure. But I think we’ve all had separate conversations with my dad, or maybe his brother, or maybe even another shareholder. But we’ve not all sat down and all have the conversation together. And I think that’s probably what’s missing for us. Nice,
Elizabeth Ledoux: nice. And then the value of being able to do that would be again, just you being on the same page, same direction, because you have you have multiple family businesses with different people in different businesses. So maybe each one of the businesses I’m putting words in your mouth potentially, maybe each one of the businesses has a good strategy has a good plan. That maybe it’s the overarching that you’re thinking about. Yeah,
Danielle Scimeca: exactly. We have we all have goals and and, you know, rocks, goals, dreams for that division one we’re looking at selling when we know we want to keep the other one we’re gonna hold for a while and then figure it out. We kind of have or I kind of have this idea of what each company where it’s going. But I don’t know how involved the ownership wants to be. I don’t Know How involved my dad wants to be, I don’t know how long they want to hold stock for I don’t. So there’s some of those pieces that can get really I think make some people even feel like very insecure, and their work and like, Well, are we ever gonna see this? Are we ever going to be able to buy in? Or are they just going to hold it forever? Is it actually going to sell? Do they want it to sell? Do we want it to sell? So I think the overarching idea for all of the companies is really what’s missing. Got
Elizabeth Ledoux: And that brought up, you know, their feelings sometimes of waiting and waiting and waiting as a successor. So will it ever happen and when, especially with some of the owners being active, healthy and being engaged longer, because they are able now with our health system, and you know, health and technology, you’re able to be more engaged for a longer period of time, feeling better, living better. And then, so there’s that. And then there’s also the flip of that, where there’s sometimes there’s a fear of the rug being pulled out from underneath you that you put in your effort, your time, and then all of a sudden, it’s like, oh, yeah, now we’re gonna, you know, this isn’t working, or we’re gonna sell. And then, you know, what about, what about you? Totally?
Danielle Scimeca: Well, and, and I think, you know, I’ve not I’m not one of the people trying to push them out, like, I would like my dad to stay engaged. But I see how like, he’s working 60 hour weeks now. And I’m like, You should not be working 60 hours, you should be playing pickleball and with my mom and spending time with the kids and doing some of that stuff, too. And so I think there’s a healthy balance there for sure. And yeah, for for myself, I mean, exactly what you said, I think a lot of us feel like there are other things that we could be doing that we’ve chosen not to do. And if that rug is going to be pulled out from under us? Well, I mean, frankly, we’d like to know now.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Sure, sure, or have the opportunity to have a conversation that it wouldn’t be. Well, not that. Yeah, not that a owner, usually owners are so generous and so helpful. They’re trying to be right, sometimes it backfires on us. We think we’re doing it, but we’re really not. Yeah, but sometimes the belief on that, on that owner founder side declines just because of you know, how people are navigating some of the issues in the business. And instead of open communication, what happens is what I’ve seen is you end up with an owner losing confidence sometimes in their successors. Yeah, not because the successors aren’t trying, but because there’s a lack of communication. Right? Yeah, neither side really knows what the other one’s expecting of them. And, and the commitment pin each one is made. And so there’s just this kind of gray area between the can be detrimental at times.
Danielle Scimeca: Yeah, for sure. For sure.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah. So. So if you were to have everybody sit down at a table, and if you were to have this terrific strategy forward, and the communication, how do you? How do you think that that would change the way the successors come in and approach, I guess, their jobs and their roles?
Danielle Scimeca: So I guess it partially depends on what the plan is. But assuming it’s a plan that everyone agrees on, or feels comfortable with, I think coming in to work like some of these, I’ll call them sacrifices, but some of these sacrifices where it’s like, whether it’s like a monetary sacrifice, or a time sacrifice, or you know, maybe this kind of time, but you’re traveling a lot, you’re away from the family or whatever you’re doing, I think all we can rest assured that all of that that we’re doing will be worth it. Because we’re not treated. To be fair, we are not treated like a normal employee, or certainly I’m not treated like a normal employee. And there are pros and cons to that for sure. And one of you know, the cons is that I don’t actually know if all of my quote unquote sacrifices or the things that I’ve done, will pay off The end. And I was a little more comfortable with that than others. I’m like, I’m learning, it’s fine. But you know, there are some others that are not don’t necessarily feel that way.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah, yeah, they want. They want more foundation, I guess. Yeah, such thing is a sure thing, right. And really, because you’re in a, you’re basically in a team environment trying to figure out how to navigate a good transition. And, you know, whether it’s a short period of time or a long period of time, you just don’t know, because none of us really know how long we’re going to be able to do what we’re doing today. But um, yeah, I could see that I also
Danielle Scimeca: I also do think from, you know, the the other side of things, I do think it would help the shareholders, my dad, his brother, the other ones actually think it would help them reach their goals faster to or That’s my belief. If we all know where we’re going, we can all help get there quicker, more efficiently. And so I think what they don’t understand is that actually with by not having that conversation, they’re not really doing themselves justice, either. Right.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Right. So you know, just guessing. What do you think stands behind them either not having or not wanting? Those are two different things. Not seeing a need not help not having a high sense of urgency to have those conversations? What? What do you think stands in their way of doing that?
Danielle Scimeca: Yeah, I think one thing is, I feel like EHRs. And I don’t think the word of I don’t know that the word afraid is the right word. But I think there’s something stopping them. I do think they need the shareholders. My dad, brother, like I mentioned, I do think they need to sit down and have a conversation first, amongst themselves, and I don’t, at least as far as I know, that hasn’t happened. And so I feel like there’s a block there. And I don’t really know why. But for some reason, there’s a block there. And I think after that block was overcome, I think then they would be more willing to sit down. But right now, they don’t even know what they want. And so they’re not willing to, you know, sit down with all of us.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Sure. Yeah. And trying to figure out what you want is a it’s not a one time thing. It’s not a super simple decision. It’s a shift in your whole life. And also a shift in if you have partners, it’s a shift in the relationship. It’s a shift in how you work together or not. Right. There’s a big bittersweet, then saying, Wow, I finally made it to where I don’t have to work the 60 hours to wow. I don’t have to work 60 hours, right. Yeah, it is much. I don’t. Yeah, I’m noticing important, I guess.
Danielle Scimeca: Yeah. Well, I’m there. You know, I think the shareholders are all at different points to they have different needs, you know, in in amongst themselves that I don’t think they are ready and willing to sit down and be vulnerable with each other about quite yet.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So the dynamic of the dynamic of a person transitioning out maybe not quite being ready, then the dynamic of a successor coming in and also not being quite ready. Right. There are people at a minimum to be that are going through a transition into a place that they haven’t into something that they haven’t done before. Yeah, right. Little scary. That’s right. That’s right. Yeah. And you’re brave in navigating it and walking through it and being your dad’s right hand. That’s incredible. Yeah, it’s fun.
Danielle Scimeca: It really is fun. Most of the time, some days. It’s not fun. There’s no question but a lot of days. It really is fun. Yeah,
Elizabeth Ledoux: yeah. And I so I’ll ask this last question. Then I have one more it’s going to be what would you like to leave with our audience today? Because we’re amazingly at our time already. What, what do you do and how do you navigate keeping a strong relationship with your father, when you’re in a business relationship with him also my cow. What are some of the things that you’ve used that have worked for you to maintain a great relationship with him?
Danielle Scimeca: Yeah, so it’s funny, I was just having this conversation with somebody else recently. And there’s no question that my relationship with my dad is not the same as it as it used to be. And it’s not the same as what it would be if I worked somewhere else. There’s just no denying that. But we’ve found little things we’ve gone through pretty low parts, I would say he would never admit it. I don’t think because that’s my dad. He’s like, it’s always great. But it hasn’t always been great. But we’ve found little things that we enjoy doing together. Like one thing for, for example, is hot yoga, I love to do hot yoga, and I drag him along with me, because he needs it even if he doesn’t think he does. Every now and then we’ll go to Hot Yoga and go get coffee afterwards. And we’ll typically talk about you know, sometimes where it comes up, depending on what what’s going on. But I’m talking about the kids or, you know, things that really don’t have anything to do with work, which is nice. So I think finding those little things, and he plays a lot of tennis. And so I’ll go out there and hit with him, or drill him I prefer drilling him because then I get like payback for growing up with him drilling me. So we find like little activities and things to do outside of work, I think which help ground us. And certainly the kids help too, because he’s a great grandpa. So it’s like, we’ll never we’ll never stop going around.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah, yeah. So basically putting your relationship first. Yeah. Keeping a connection outside of work. Yeah. Sounds like a great appreciation for each other.
Danielle Scimeca: Yeah, I think there’s great respect there. I have, you know, my dad’s always been. He’s always been like that light, you know, for me growing up. And though it is different. It’s just I have so much appreciation and respect for him, what he’s built, and how he treats people how he treats me. And I feel that reciprocated, which I think is really important.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I like the idea of reciprocation, because without it, I think sometimes successors feel talked down to Yes. And, you know, when is that appropriate? When is that maybe not appropriate? And how, how do you just say, hey, you know, I’m hurting here, or that wasn’t quite right, or, and having the opportunity to be able to be transparent and vulnerable with each other is of great importance.
Danielle Scimeca: So yeah, and I’m a lucky one in that instant, like, I can always sit my dad down and tell him exactly what I feel. So I’m lucky,
Elizabeth Ledoux: you are lucky that you get to live down and he listened. So that’s nice. He does. Yeah. Well, gosh, okay. So yeah, we are totally at our time. And Danielle, just thank you for coming in and for being so transparent with us and sharing your experience of what it’s like to be a successor. And also your perspective on being with your dad, that great owner founder. So if you were to if you were to leave one thing with the audience, what one thing would you leave what one piece of advice or recommendation
Danielle Scimeca: it would probably be to be transparent. That’s I feel like been the theme of the conversation is transparency. Take the time to sit down, take the time to have the conversations. And take the time to continue your relationship, like you said after outside of work, too. So just take the time to be transparent in all all aspects of the relationship.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Thank you. That’s, that’s very, very powerful. So thanks for leaving that with us. All right, everybody. So thank you, Danielle. Just appreciate you and everything that you’re doing. And yeah, best of luck to you and your family. And you’re navigating of your transition. You’re on a great path.
Danielle Scimeca: Thank you. Hopefully I’ll have some good updates, and years to come.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Thank you for listening to this episode of the business transition roadmap. If you’re listening to this and you find yourself wanting to go deeper into these types Basics and start the process of putting together your transition strategy. I’d love to offer you a free initial strategy session with my team, where we’ll help you to explore the future transition of your business, head over to www.transitionstrategists.com To schedule a call. Thank you again for listening, and I’ll see you on the next episode of the BusinessTransition Roadmap.
The Business Transition Roadmap with Elizabeth Ledoux
How do communities thrive? When businesses experience healthy growth and transition. Join CEO of The Transition Strategists, Elizabeth Ledoux as she and her guests identify what makes a successful business transition roadmap. If you know you want to transition or exit your business “one day”, today is the right day to start planning. This show will give you the roadmap.
