FEATURE: Twins And The Business Of Family

Charles Lowenhaupt

8 April 2013

Editor's Note: Here, Charles Lowenhaupt, chairman and CEO of Lowenhaupt Global Advisors, and a financial advisor whose family has been managing significant wealth for more than 100 years, shares his experience. He is also co-author of the book, Freedom From Wealth by McGraw-Hill.

Building functionality into a family’s business affairs always involves defining each person’s role. It’s never easy or intuitive to think differently about family members who were children at the dinner table, but are now adults around the board table. That process of changing those early family dynamics requires conversations to determine what each individual family member wants to do with his or her life. Only after that can a family decide which wealth management functions can be “bundled” together for the whole family and which cannot. After those decisions are made, a family will be ready to complete operating procedures and governance structures for their family office.

The story of identical twin sisters, both chefs at a hotel restaurant in Chiang Mai, Thailand, demonstrates how families can work together when roles are defined. For many years, the sisters trained and worked separately, though always in the same city and with similar credentials. Each was seen as a highly accomplished chef in her own right, expert in Thai food and restaurant hotel management. Five years ago, they decided they wanted to work together and started looking for positions in the same kitchen.

In their quest for positions in the same hotel kitchen, they found that hotel after hotel had a “policy” that siblings could not work in the same hotel. Industry-wide, they were told that sisters working together would be difficult on staff morale. Fundamentally, this attitude reflected the expectation that family does not work well together or with others.

The twins persisted, however, and said they would work anywhere in the world, so long as it was together. They have now finally found jobs in a Thai luxury hotel. Their employment required collaboration between the hotel’s executive chef and the HR department. After much paperwork and the development of exceptions to many rules, today they are creating sublime food in the luxury resort, sharing an apartment, and are together in the kitchen every day. They are charming not only the guests with their food, but also the staff with their competence and their capacity to be part of a team.

What can we learn from these sisters? Kitchens, like armies, are run in strict regimen. Rules and structures are designed around leadership. In the kitchen, the chef’s leadership is supreme. All efficiencies, hygiene and quality are dependent on the leadership of the chef. The twins understand that. They work together completely in the kitchen. They come to a table to greet guests together, and their appearance is identical. Yet, one wears an apron saying “Chef” and one wears an apron saying “Sous-Chef.” How was that decided? The sous-chef says that her sister, the chef , is the elder of the two by five minutes. “Small” says: “So of course she is the chef, in charge, because she is my elder sister.”

The adage that too many cooks spoils the soup means that regimen is crucial in the kitchen. The twin chef, with the full support of her “sous-chef,” actually supervises 10 or 11 chefs in her kitchen, but each has a role understood by all – even her twin sister. How many families can apply that lesson to their own kitchens? Should they also conclude that the elder should always be in charge? The answer may be no, but they should conclude that the harmonious setting and understanding of role is fundamental. Those five minutes of birth order have not made these chefs successful. Instead, their success is based on an agreement about roles. “Big” and “Small” together create fine food and a great dining experience because they can use their skills harmoniously and constructively. Theirs is a “family business” that works.