Episode 065: Advice and Traditions for Strong, Successful Families from Mitzi Perdue

If anyone knows family business, it’s the amazing Mitzi Perdue. Her family’s first enterprise, Henderson Estate Company, got its start in 1840. Her father founded the Sheraton Hotel Chain in the 1930s and her late husband, Frank Perdue, was the second generation of the Perdue poultry company. In 1974, Mitzi started her own family business, CERES Farms, which is now one of the largest suppliers of wine grapes in California. In total, Mitzi represents more than three centuries of family business history.

At the young age of 26, Mitzi’s father passed away, leaving her and her four siblings to decide what to do with the Sheraton Hotel Chain. The five children were divided on the decision but ultimately came to the consensus to sell the business. While she says it was contentious at times, in the end, the family remained intact and strong. “Something saved us: we were taught that it’s okay to fight in the family, but you should never take a quarrel public. Hendersons don’t wash our dirty linen in public,” Mitzi said.

In the episode, Mitzi provides a glimpse at her life as a Sheraton heiress. She shares the values that helped shape who she is and how she is passing those values on to her children and grandchildren. Despite her success, Mitzi chooses to fly economy. She takes cabs and uses the subway. She even talks about reusing aluminum foil because frugality and the environment matter to her.

She shares incredible stories of family success and also some stories of great defeat and devastation.

In this episode:

Meet Mitzi Perdue (1:50)
The sale of the Sheraton Hotel Chain (14:37)
No washing your dirty linen in public (17:55)
When the decision is made, you don’t look back (21:54)
Relationships are more important than money (23:05)
Sharing values with the next generation (30:30)
Special family traditions (37:05)

Resources from this episode:

mitziperdue.com

How to Communicate Values to Children So They Love It by Mitzie Perdue

Children Benefit if They Know About Their Relatives, Study Finds from Emory University

Family Meals, Stories Boost Child Confidence, Say Emory Researchers from Emory University

CASA Report Funds Teens Who Have Infrequent Family Dinners Likelier to Drink, Smoke, Use Marijuana (Columbia University research) from the Center on Addiction

Successful Business Owners Celebrate Milestones Differently And Grow Their Business from Forbes

Notable and Quotable:

What good does it do to succeed financially and fail as a family? —Mitzie Perdue

Your family will be stronger and healthier if you have five or more meals together each week. —Mitzie Perdue

Every family has a culture, but is it by default or by design? —Mitzie Perdue

Guest Bio:

Author, speaker, and businesswoman Mitzi Perdue holds a BA with honors from Harvard University and an MPA from the George Washington University. She is a past president of the 35,000-member American Agri-Women, She’s also a former syndicated columnist for Scripps Howard and her column, The Environment and You, was the most widely-syndicated environmental column in the country. Her television series, Country Magazine, was syndicated to 76 stations. She’s the founder of CERES Farms, the second-generation family-owned commercial and agricultural real estate investment company that has owned rice fields, commercial and residential real estate, and today, the family vineyards sell wine grapes to wineries such as Mondavi, Bogle, Folie a Deux, and Toasted Head.

Mitzi combines the experiences of three long-time family businesses. Her father Ernest Henderson co-founded the Sheraton Hotel Chain and her late husband Frank Perdue was the second generation in the poultry company that today operates in more than 100 countries. She herself founded CERES Farms in 1974.

She loves to point out that the Henderson family business began in 1840 with the Henderson Estate Company and they have been having yearly family reunions since 1890. If you combine the 179 years since it began, and the 99 years that Perdue Farms has been in business, and the 45 years since the founding of Ceres Farms she represents more than three centuries of family business history.

Recently she authored HOW TO MAKE YOUR FAMILY BUSINESS LAST, Techniques, Advice, Checklists, and Resources for Keeping the Family Business in the Family.

Mitzi Perdue likes nothing better than to share tips for what worked in the long-running families that she’s a part of.

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