I’m Simon Torres and come from a second generation family business from Colombia. My father belonged to a third generation family business that went bankrupt back in the 70’s and with the liquidation of it, he started his own business. He designed and constructed commercial, residential and institutional real estate throughout Colombia from the beginning of the 70’s till the end of the 90’s when he became ill from a neurodegenerative illness that has been in the family for generations. As his illness progressed, my generation took over the business in 2004 and restructured it with the best practices. We hired an external CEO, we appointed an external board of directors, structured a family office and launched the new series of environmentally sustainable commercial real estate. Nowadays we’re the leaders in this sort of assets since we make sure of every process that takes place in the entire value chain. We design, structure financially, promote, budget, manage the construction, and then operate the asset in the long run.
I’m a civil engineer with a masters in construction management and recently an MBA from Joe Astrachan’s program in family business. I’m the president of the board of directors since almost three years ago.
I’m a civil engineer with a masters in construction management and recently an MBA from Joe Astrachan’s program in family business. I’m the president of the board of directors since almost three years ago.
Can you tell us something about your background: Where and how did you grow up?
My father married twice and I’m from his second marriage. This fact influenced the two sets of siblings because my older sisters’ mother is American and my mother is Colombian. Despite the profound cultural differences between the two mothers of the siblings, my father tried to make sure that we didn’t grow up as half brothers and sisters but as the same blood. We all grew up in Bogota and watching my father working made me want to study civil engineering.
When and how was your family business started? Which generation is currently leading the business?
My father started his business with the aid of the liquidation of his previous family business. This means I’m the fifth generation of a family which has had the entrepreneurial spirit all along since the nineteenth century. His first business became the biggest hardware retailers in Colombia during the first half of the twentieth century. New stores were opened in all major cities across the country. But this ended up not being sustainable and so it went bankrupt. He then started designing residential and commercial real estate in the 70’s and the 80’.
What is your first memory of visiting / being exposed to your family business as a child?
My father breathed architecture all his life. He was always looking at buildings on the streets anywhere he went, and was always drawing and imagining things. When I went to his office he had the models of every building he designed and I loved them. He also designed the house where I grew up and to my opinion it was an architectural jewel. That made me study civil engineering, and to be honest, I haven’t met any father who was as proud of his son for his study choice as my father. He would tell everybody that I was studying engineering, and that also motivated me towards construction even more.
Can you describe the time when you were prepared to take over the family business? Were you explicitly prepared to take over the business? If yes, how? Is there anything you would have done differently in the transition process?
My oldest sister Alejandra was the one who started the restructuring of the company in 2004. She was the only one capable of doing so because she studied business and was the oldest of us and a natural leader. I was still in university when all this happened. She established the board of directors and invited her siblings to be part of a learning process within it.
Time passed and as I learned about the business and made my career outside of the company, she decided to resign in 2012 to pursue her career as an environmentalist. She thought that my learning process was very advanced and appointed me as her successor as the chair of the board. I accepted but under one condition: Someone should teach me how to do it. So I decided to do an MBA; specifically the Joe Astrachan’s program in family business. My sister completely abandoned the company and let me show my leadership skills without any guidance.
Up to now, I’ve been in the position for almost three years. The only thing I would have done differently is to embrace my sister more in the decision-making process of the company. Since she left suddenly, it has been very difficult to manage her opinions about the company given the fact that she’s not anymore part of the board. She has a very strong opinion and a very strong leadership way that has made the relationship difficult to manage.
Can you tell us about one challenging moment and one positive moment from the transition process?
Before my sister left the position, she started doing some business with her husband and I inherited that business relationship with him. It has been so challenging to manage that at the end the company decided to stop working with him. When she was in charge the business relationship was smooth, but when I assumed I noticed the relationship wasn’t very healthy and decided to give it an end.
A positive moment during the transition was the positive energy and support that the external board members and the CEO gave me to enhance my self-confidence and my leadership skills. Honestly I didn’t expect it and it was a nice gesture of the entire team in order to start working together.
Do you have a role model? If so who and why?
My role model is precisely one of the external board members who used to be a friend of my father in the past. He is also a civil engineer with a lot of experience in development and has a very critical but also structured way of thinking which makes him very objective in any decision-making process. I admire him professionally but also personally. He has a dedicated life to his family and always keeps very young in spirit.
In your opinion, what is the best thing about working in the family business?
I don’t work in the family business on a day-to-day basis, but still am involved a lot. The CEO reports to me and we are in constant exchange of thoughts. While the CEO takes a hold of the operations and business executions, I take a hold of the strategy. I like it this way because I can spend time in my other personal and professional projects without losing sight of the family business.
Did you ever work anywhere outside the family business? How does that experience compare to your work inside the family business? What are similarities and differences? What were some key learnings from that other activity that you took along inside the family business?
Since I graduated from university I searched for my own path outside of the family business. I worked in construction for five years until I decided I wanted to start my own project in football. In 2009 I started a football academy and I think it was a very important milestone so that the family could see my entrepreneurial skills. Having worked outside the company for 5 years and maintaining my football project for 3 more years made me demonstrate what I’m capable of.
Despite the fact that I don’t work anymore as an engineer, I have the structure to understand the business in detail. I now focus more on the big picture rather than the little tasks but still understand them. And starting my own project gave me the vision and responsibility of leading and motivating a team. And of course the managing skills were developed with time and improved through doing the MBA during a year and a half.
Does your family business like to promote the fact that it is family owned and/or run? Why or why not?
It is well promoted within the company and we use to call the team as the Contempo family, making allusion to the fact that it is family-owned. We like to integrate the family values into the organization and treat everybody with integrity and respect as if they were part of our family.
Sadly we do not communicate to third parties that the company is family-owned. The reason is that we live in Colombia and security is an issue. It is better to have a low profile and keep incognito.
Why did you decide to join your family business instead of pursuing a different career path (e.g., a regular corporate career or starting your own venture)?
I did start my own venture and it still continues. I do both and have time for both. I’m also starting new ventures and dedicate a lot of time to the FBN.
What were the biggest personal challenges you faced when joining the family business as a family member?
The biggest challenge was to demonstrate everybody that I was capable of doing the job. It’s true I was assigned to the position because I’m family and shareholder, but the professional respect needs to be earned through work and knowledge. To be the boss of a CEO that has 15 years more experience than you is very challenging. The difference between you and him is that he’s working with your money and you have to be responsible for it. Despite his years of experience, he will never feel the high level of responsibility for the family’s resources, the ownership value that I have.
As a successor in the family business, do you feel like an entrepreneur or rather not? If yes, how do you manage to bring your entrepreneurial vision into the family business?
I feel as an entrepreneur, no question about it; and as such, I feel that I am gifted with great imagination and creativity. I’m not the normal, traditional chairman of a board. I feel unique and as a special person I have tons of ideas to give. I feel objective but at the same time innovative and I think it is a great mix for the company to have and take advantage of it.
What is your advice for other next generation members who are getting ready to join the family business?
My advice to other NextGens that are joining the family business is to join at the non-executive level because it’s the best place to really influence the business. As a typical employee you just follow orders and are consumed by the day-to-day activities. Meanwhile on the non-executive level you can give insights and really lead the company where you want it to go. You can really transcend your values and vision and give your influence as a family member at the board.
What is your next project?
My next project in the company is model all the production processes and optimize profit through efficient resource allocation. It sounds kind of technical for a services company but I’m really looking forward to apply all my learnings from the MBA. I am working hard on reorienting the company to be more result-driven and I feel excited about it.
Anything else you want to add?
Yes. My father’s illness is genetic and I always was afraid that I could get sick and that’s why I was rushing through life. I felt like I didn’t have time to do everything I wanted to do. That’s why I started my own project, I traveled the world, I studied two master’s degrees, etc… By the beginning of 2014 I decided to take the test and for my astonishment it came out negative. I had my life figured out in case I was going to get sick one day, but then the exam came negative and I was left without a plan. So I had to reorganize my life and decided to stop rushing around. Now I feel more responsible for my family and for my family business, and have to take into account the fact that maybe one of my sisters will eventually get sick. I feel like the corner stone of my family and I cannot fail, because the future depends on me. This is my motivation to succeed and I will not rest until I manage to get where I want to go. Now that I’m healthy I have the obligation to keep focused and succeed at all costs.
My father married twice and I’m from his second marriage. This fact influenced the two sets of siblings because my older sisters’ mother is American and my mother is Colombian. Despite the profound cultural differences between the two mothers of the siblings, my father tried to make sure that we didn’t grow up as half brothers and sisters but as the same blood. We all grew up in Bogota and watching my father working made me want to study civil engineering.
When and how was your family business started? Which generation is currently leading the business?
My father started his business with the aid of the liquidation of his previous family business. This means I’m the fifth generation of a family which has had the entrepreneurial spirit all along since the nineteenth century. His first business became the biggest hardware retailers in Colombia during the first half of the twentieth century. New stores were opened in all major cities across the country. But this ended up not being sustainable and so it went bankrupt. He then started designing residential and commercial real estate in the 70’s and the 80’.
What is your first memory of visiting / being exposed to your family business as a child?
My father breathed architecture all his life. He was always looking at buildings on the streets anywhere he went, and was always drawing and imagining things. When I went to his office he had the models of every building he designed and I loved them. He also designed the house where I grew up and to my opinion it was an architectural jewel. That made me study civil engineering, and to be honest, I haven’t met any father who was as proud of his son for his study choice as my father. He would tell everybody that I was studying engineering, and that also motivated me towards construction even more.
Can you describe the time when you were prepared to take over the family business? Were you explicitly prepared to take over the business? If yes, how? Is there anything you would have done differently in the transition process?
My oldest sister Alejandra was the one who started the restructuring of the company in 2004. She was the only one capable of doing so because she studied business and was the oldest of us and a natural leader. I was still in university when all this happened. She established the board of directors and invited her siblings to be part of a learning process within it.
Time passed and as I learned about the business and made my career outside of the company, she decided to resign in 2012 to pursue her career as an environmentalist. She thought that my learning process was very advanced and appointed me as her successor as the chair of the board. I accepted but under one condition: Someone should teach me how to do it. So I decided to do an MBA; specifically the Joe Astrachan’s program in family business. My sister completely abandoned the company and let me show my leadership skills without any guidance.
Up to now, I’ve been in the position for almost three years. The only thing I would have done differently is to embrace my sister more in the decision-making process of the company. Since she left suddenly, it has been very difficult to manage her opinions about the company given the fact that she’s not anymore part of the board. She has a very strong opinion and a very strong leadership way that has made the relationship difficult to manage.
Can you tell us about one challenging moment and one positive moment from the transition process?
Before my sister left the position, she started doing some business with her husband and I inherited that business relationship with him. It has been so challenging to manage that at the end the company decided to stop working with him. When she was in charge the business relationship was smooth, but when I assumed I noticed the relationship wasn’t very healthy and decided to give it an end.
A positive moment during the transition was the positive energy and support that the external board members and the CEO gave me to enhance my self-confidence and my leadership skills. Honestly I didn’t expect it and it was a nice gesture of the entire team in order to start working together.
Do you have a role model? If so who and why?
My role model is precisely one of the external board members who used to be a friend of my father in the past. He is also a civil engineer with a lot of experience in development and has a very critical but also structured way of thinking which makes him very objective in any decision-making process. I admire him professionally but also personally. He has a dedicated life to his family and always keeps very young in spirit.
In your opinion, what is the best thing about working in the family business?
I don’t work in the family business on a day-to-day basis, but still am involved a lot. The CEO reports to me and we are in constant exchange of thoughts. While the CEO takes a hold of the operations and business executions, I take a hold of the strategy. I like it this way because I can spend time in my other personal and professional projects without losing sight of the family business.
Did you ever work anywhere outside the family business? How does that experience compare to your work inside the family business? What are similarities and differences? What were some key learnings from that other activity that you took along inside the family business?
Since I graduated from university I searched for my own path outside of the family business. I worked in construction for five years until I decided I wanted to start my own project in football. In 2009 I started a football academy and I think it was a very important milestone so that the family could see my entrepreneurial skills. Having worked outside the company for 5 years and maintaining my football project for 3 more years made me demonstrate what I’m capable of.
Despite the fact that I don’t work anymore as an engineer, I have the structure to understand the business in detail. I now focus more on the big picture rather than the little tasks but still understand them. And starting my own project gave me the vision and responsibility of leading and motivating a team. And of course the managing skills were developed with time and improved through doing the MBA during a year and a half.
Does your family business like to promote the fact that it is family owned and/or run? Why or why not?
It is well promoted within the company and we use to call the team as the Contempo family, making allusion to the fact that it is family-owned. We like to integrate the family values into the organization and treat everybody with integrity and respect as if they were part of our family.
Sadly we do not communicate to third parties that the company is family-owned. The reason is that we live in Colombia and security is an issue. It is better to have a low profile and keep incognito.
Why did you decide to join your family business instead of pursuing a different career path (e.g., a regular corporate career or starting your own venture)?
I did start my own venture and it still continues. I do both and have time for both. I’m also starting new ventures and dedicate a lot of time to the FBN.
What were the biggest personal challenges you faced when joining the family business as a family member?
The biggest challenge was to demonstrate everybody that I was capable of doing the job. It’s true I was assigned to the position because I’m family and shareholder, but the professional respect needs to be earned through work and knowledge. To be the boss of a CEO that has 15 years more experience than you is very challenging. The difference between you and him is that he’s working with your money and you have to be responsible for it. Despite his years of experience, he will never feel the high level of responsibility for the family’s resources, the ownership value that I have.
As a successor in the family business, do you feel like an entrepreneur or rather not? If yes, how do you manage to bring your entrepreneurial vision into the family business?
I feel as an entrepreneur, no question about it; and as such, I feel that I am gifted with great imagination and creativity. I’m not the normal, traditional chairman of a board. I feel unique and as a special person I have tons of ideas to give. I feel objective but at the same time innovative and I think it is a great mix for the company to have and take advantage of it.
What is your advice for other next generation members who are getting ready to join the family business?
My advice to other NextGens that are joining the family business is to join at the non-executive level because it’s the best place to really influence the business. As a typical employee you just follow orders and are consumed by the day-to-day activities. Meanwhile on the non-executive level you can give insights and really lead the company where you want it to go. You can really transcend your values and vision and give your influence as a family member at the board.
What is your next project?
My next project in the company is model all the production processes and optimize profit through efficient resource allocation. It sounds kind of technical for a services company but I’m really looking forward to apply all my learnings from the MBA. I am working hard on reorienting the company to be more result-driven and I feel excited about it.
Anything else you want to add?
Yes. My father’s illness is genetic and I always was afraid that I could get sick and that’s why I was rushing through life. I felt like I didn’t have time to do everything I wanted to do. That’s why I started my own project, I traveled the world, I studied two master’s degrees, etc… By the beginning of 2014 I decided to take the test and for my astonishment it came out negative. I had my life figured out in case I was going to get sick one day, but then the exam came negative and I was left without a plan. So I had to reorganize my life and decided to stop rushing around. Now I feel more responsible for my family and for my family business, and have to take into account the fact that maybe one of my sisters will eventually get sick. I feel like the corner stone of my family and I cannot fail, because the future depends on me. This is my motivation to succeed and I will not rest until I manage to get where I want to go. Now that I’m healthy I have the obligation to keep focused and succeed at all costs.
RSS Feed