Michelle Chouinard-Kenney has a unique perspective on mentoring in a family business. She is the CEO of Gibson Building Supplies, a chain of eight outlets based in Aurora, Ont., and she has three sons who work in the business.
One of them is working to become CEO one day. But she admits that she’s not the right person to mentor her son. As the second-generation leader of her family’s business, she reflects on her own transition to the top job with characteristic honesty: “It was poor. It was not planned well.”
She aims to do better when it comes time to hand the company to the third generation.
“I don’t think I would be the best mentor for my son. We are currently in the process of selecting a mentor for him. I am his mom first. I know he has learned our core beliefs and core values. So, we have selected someone to mentor him in a professional capacity, someone from whom he can learn the things that, necessarily, I might not be able to teach him.”
With a staff of 160 employees between both Gibson Building Supplies and Chouinard Brothers, the roofing firm that the family also owns, Chouinard-Kenney is always thinking about the next generation of leaders.
She has been leading the firm since 2009. She says her leadership style is “more reserved” than the generation that came before her. “My father was very hands-on and tactile in his approach to mentorship. I am very okay with people making mistakes, then helping them work through their mistakes. But there are some leaders that like to stop the mistake before it happens. For me, if it doesn’t create a financial crisis, I think it’s better to let my staff find their own solutions.”
Succession planning is one of the biggest hurdles facing many of this industry’s independent business owners. Chouinard-Kenney recommends starting that planning now. “There are conversations that we have now because 10 years creeps up quickly. At 60, if I am looking to retire, who’s succeeding behind me?”
