RECAP: FOX 30th Anniversary Forum

Generation 1-2 Builders: Designing a Shared Vision for the Hojel Family

Presenters:
Phyllis C. Hojel, Gen 1 Founder, HM International, LLC, Mexico
Richard C. Hojel, Gen 2 Family Leader, HM International, LLC, Mexico

Moderator:
Margaret Vaughan Cox, President, MCV Consulting

Session Description: 

Richard Hojel was a unique Mexican business owner who preferred partnership over personal control. He launched several companies in his lifetime, maneuvering past physical handicaps thanks to the tremendous support from his wife, Phyllis Hojel, and their four children. At the time of his death, he had an extensive network of business owner peers, oversight of a number of operating companies, and a diverse property portfolio. Prior to Richard’s death, his oldest son, Richard C. Hojel, stepped in to learn the operating companies. Along with his siblings and their spouses, Richard C. created a shared governance process that Gen 3s are now eager to understand.

“What drives us is the operations and growing the business organically."
– Richard C. Hojel

Key Takeaways: 
  • Early difficulties – an accident, long recovery and resulting disabilities for the patriarch, as well as a failed partnership – taught the Hojel family perseverance and the importance of trying again. The patriarch, Richard, was an entrepreneur at heart and found a way to start over again with new partners that enabled the family businesses to thrive.
  • Following the patriarch’s unexpected death, staying together became a rallying point for the family. And there was no question Richard C. Hojel, would step in to lead the family business, working closely with his mother and siblings. As a young leader at the time, he relied on the wisdom of his father’s business partners, who provided crucial mentoring and guidance as he shepherded the family businesses.
  • As Gen 2 grew to include spouses, the family thought it would be more additive than not to include them in the governance process – and they were right. Two of the brothers-in-law had found success in their own right (one a successful business owner, one a lawyer) and became important in analyzing enterprise strategy.
  • The family is very conscious to avoid a sense of entitlement with the rising generation and have been very careful in sharing information. They want to encourage the individual spark or drive the younger generation might possess to carve out their own future. They are working to develop the entrepreneurial spirit among Gen 3 by sharing the family’s success stories and failures.
  • The family has engaged in a series of steps to prepare Gen 3s for the next decade. After creating an in-depth history map, the Gen 2s shared the family’s history, governance, and their own case study, while also describing their business decisionmaking process. Next, the Gen 2s will provide a more detailed overview of the companies owned by the enterprise with the eldest members of the next generation.