Robert Spector has studied, chronicled, and lectured about family businesses for three decades. Best known as the author of "The Nordstrom Way," Spector has also written the corporate histories of a wide variety of companies that originated as family businesses, including Pizza Hut, Eddie Bauer, Kimberly Clark, Simpson Timber, and Kemper Development Company.
He grew up working in Spector’s Meat Market, his family business in New Jersey, which he wrote about in his memoir, "The Mom & Pop Store: True Stories From the Heart of America." This book also profiles dozens of multi-generational family-owned small businesses across the United States, as well as in London and Tokyo.
As a speaker and the co-founder of Robert Spector Consulting, he has given presentations to many family-founded and/or family-run businesses all over the world—from Infiniti car dealers and coin-laundry operators in the U.S. to department store owners in Thailand and fishing companies in Japan.
During this discussion Mr. Spector talked about what he has learned from candid discussions with the principals of these companies about what works and what doesn’t work in order to sustain a multi-generational family business.