durham inc.
MIXING BLOOD AND BUSINESS The challenges of running a family company BY R E N E E E L D E R | P H O T O G R A P H Y BY B E T H M A N N
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usiness success is usually judged by a company’s balance sheet, but in a family business, the bottom line includes more than just dollars and cents. Family-based operations require excellent business and financial acumen. But, they also demand the stamina to withstand scrutiny, criticism and even competition from close relatives, in-laws and others with a genetically vested interest. Familial fights and relationship strife can easily
spill into the workplace, while complicated issues like nepotism – or the appearance of it – can muddy hiring and promotion decisions. And something major like a divorce can throw a wrench in the best-laid plans. That scenario could have threatened the future of fourthgeneration Durham moving company, J.E. Ladd & Son Transfer, when the owner’s daughter, Lori Ladd, and her husband, Rodney Lewis, decided to separate several years ago. The dynamic could be awkward in any company, let alone in one as small as Ladd & Son, which covers the Triangle area but has only four total employees. Lewis had
62 • durhammag.com • February/March 2019