Navigating family businesses with Mary Andringa
Mary Andringa’s dad founded their family business, Vermeer Corp., exactly one year before she was born.
She’d go on to make history with her father’s business, becoming co-CEOs with her brother, Robert Vermeer, in 2003 and becoming sole CEO in 2009. She was chair of the company in addition to CEO in 2014-2015 before her son, Jason Andringa, took over.
Andringa was the first woman to be inducted into the Association of Equipment Manufacturers Hall of Fame and the first woman to lead the National Association of Manufacturers. She also laid the groundwork for the company to prepare the next generation of Vermeer descendants to become leaders, ensuring the business could thrive while staying under family leadership.
In June, Andringa joined the University of Northern Iowa Family Business Center’s Lead(Her)ship Speaker Series, a Q&A series with women who have stepped up as leaders in their family businesses.
Here are four takeaways for supporting a family business’s success from Andringa’s Q&A.
1. Define your company leadership’s values
A team member once approached Andringa and told her they “always knew what your dad was all about, but what about you kids?” She understood that she and her two brothers needed to define their own values to ensure the business could start its next phase strong.
“I had just read a book about [automotive executive] Lee Iacocca, and he talked about product, profit and people,” she said. “I thought, for us, if we put principles in the middle of that, which for us are biblical principles, which apply to deep respect and opportunities for people, excellence in safety, innovation and product and being good stewards of profits so that we’re financially solid. I thought those four Ps would resonate with people.”
Andringa wrote about these values in the company newsletter and would talk about them with Vermeer dealers and customers. These foundational values help guide their company strategy to this day.
2. Bring in outside help when necessary
Andringa described family business leaders as having to navigate operating the business and the business of the family. She said the business of the family can often be the most difficult.
Vermeer Corp. has used outside consultants to help them work through issues that could become complicated between family members.
“The questions I get more are, ‘How do I handle this situation with my dad or my sibling?’” she said. “I don’t think we should ever be fearful of sometimes tapping into an outside consultant to help us through an issue, really working on communication and always asking the question, ‘What are we missing? What could we do better?’”
3. Establish processes to help mitigate strife
As their family grew, the Vermeers established guidelines and processes for how family members would navigate being a part of the business.
Some of those processes include a family employment policy that states each person needs to work at least three to five years for another company with some proof of good work before coming to Vermeer for employment. They also include how the company would handle an economic downturn and the stress that comes with it.
She cited a quote from a meeting with UNI’s Family Business Center: “Every family business has the same issues, and every family business has its own issues.”
“Learning how to navigate family issues is difficult, but we really kind of developed a good playbook,” Andringa said. “One of the things that I really tried to think a lot about when I was in my last five years as CEO was how do we get the succession right, and we have lots of great processes for that, but also how do we make sure the culture stays firm and sustainable.”
4. Listen, learn and be curious
The fourth generation of Vermeers has been entering the workforce in the last few years. Andringa’s advice to that generation is to be curious, get involved and ask questions.
“Learn a lot about what really gives you joy,” she said. “Try different things, different kinds of internships. We have educational programs for all different ages, and we work on ‘What are the things they should know?’”
