Family Hands Off Its Business, and Its Philosophy - New York Times

Family Hands Off Its Business, and Its Philosophy - New York Times registration may be required
HOLLAND, Mich. — Right up there with putting an aging parent in a nursing home stands the wrenching job of handing over a family business to be run by outsiders.
It happens to any family firm that lasts long enough, from Wal-Mart Stores on down. And, as the experience of the 102-year-old Louis Padnos Iron and Metal Company shows, the transition can be as quirky as the founding family.
The problem for the Padnoses is an age gap. Third-generation members who run the scrap metal company, which employs about 400 people and has annual sales of about $300 million, are in their 50s. They want to work less. But the fourth-generation Padnoses who might someday want to run the place are still only in their teens.
So, the company hired a local philosophy professor, a man who also spends time tutoring convicts at a nearby state prison in classic literature and other topics, to help groom six hired managers to become, well, more Padnos-like.