Family businesses often hope to pass from one generation to the next, but Boston real estate entrepreneur Anwar Faisal says continuity requires deliberate preparation. With his own children now involved in the family business, Faisal is encouraging owners to begin conversations about succession early, rather than waiting until retirement or a leadership change is imminent.
Faisal's perspective comes from more than four decades in business. He purchased his first Boston property, a 590-square-foot apartment, in 1984. That initial investment grew into a portfolio of thousands of residential units across Greater Boston through Alpha Management Corporation. Today, his children are involved in the family business, giving him firsthand experience with the opportunities and challenges of integrating another generation into an established company.
According to Faisal, one of the biggest mistakes a family business can make is assuming that a younger family member is automatically prepared for leadership. A title, he says, should follow experience rather than replace it. Instead of immediately placing younger family members into senior positions, he recommends gradually increasing their responsibilities. That can mean learning different parts of the operation, working alongside experienced employees, participating in decisions, and eventually taking ownership of specific areas. This approach also gives the next generation room to determine whether the family business is genuinely the right career for them.
Faisal also believes that different generations can bring different strengths. Preparing the next generation does not mean expecting younger family members to operate exactly as their parents did. Established business owners should be willing to listen when younger generations bring different ideas, experiences, or ways of approaching problems. At the same time, change should be balanced with an understanding of why existing practices were established. When those perspectives are treated as complementary rather than competing, Faisal believes family businesses are better positioned to adapt without losing the principles that helped them succeed.
Working with relatives introduces a challenge that businesses without family ties do not face: disagreements at work can easily follow people home. Faisal believes families should make a deliberate effort to distinguish between personal relationships and professional responsibilities. Clear roles can help. Family members should understand what they are responsible for, who has authority over particular decisions, and what is expected of them. They should also be held to meaningful standards rather than receiving special treatment simply because they are related to the owner.
For Faisal, preparing a family business for the future is less about choosing a successor on a particular date and more about steadily transferring knowledge. Some lessons can be explained; others have to be experienced. Business owners can share how they evaluate opportunities, manage difficult situations, communicate with people, and think about risk. Younger family members can then develop their own judgment by applying those lessons to real responsibilities.
Faisal encourages family business owners to begin those conversations while there is still plenty of time to make adjustments. They can identify who is interested in participating, expose younger family members to different areas of the operation, define responsibilities, and discuss what the company's long-term future might look like. The objective, he says, is not simply to preserve a business exactly as it exists today, but to give the next generation enough knowledge and responsibility to continue building on it.
