Family Businesses Learn to Foster Legacies of Meaning on March 15

Radnor, PA...Running a profitable, sustainable, and expanding company wasn’t enough for Spike Yoh. He also wanted his family business, Philadelphia-based Day & Zimmermann, to be a force for good, to serve others.

“It was important to Dad, and it remains important to us,” said Bill Yoh, executive and third-generation owner of the century-old company, which now employs 45,000 people and specializes in construction, engineering, staffing, security, and more for leading corporations and governments around the world.

Bill Yoh is Spike’s youngest son and his biographer. The recently released Our Way: The Life Story of Spike Yoh, winner of a Gold Award from the Nonfiction Authors Association. Spike Yoh’s commitment to service has become an integral part of Day & Zimmermann’s culture, valued as an important contributor to employee recruitment and retention and to the company’s continued success, Bill Yoh said.

The Delaware Valley Family Business Center Event provides an ideal platform for Yoh to share how his family created a company culture that embraces doing well while doing good in the community.

The succession of leadership is among the most difficult hurdles family businesses face, said Sally Derstine, managing partner and senior family business advisor at Delaware Valley Family Business Center (DVFBC). “To make that transition in a way that allows the business to thrive while also creating a meaningful legacy based on the business family’s values is a remarkable achievement,” Derstine said. “Frankly, these family leadership transitions usually don’t work.”

Because guiding family businesses through these difficult transitions is central to the DVFBC’s mission, Derstine asked Bill Yoh to share the story of his family’s success as the keynote speaker at the DVFBC’s March 15 event, Leaving a Legacy of Meaning Amidst Love & Loss. The conference takes place from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Radnor Valley Country Club, 555 Sproul Road, Villanova. Those who wish to attend can register at dvfbc.com/events/ .

Bill Yoh and his siblings have all taken on leadership roles in community and business organizations, schools, churches, and more. In Philadelphia, high school students work one day a week at Day & Zimmermann through a co-op like program that gives them real world experience. And the company relies on its employees to help steer company philanthropy and volunteerism, in part through the guidance of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). This guidance is just one way that the ERGs - comprised of people from a diverse group of cultural backgrounds, LGBT and allies, women, parents, young professionals, people with disabilities, and veterans - amplify their members’ voices and needs within the company.

“As our company is recruiting, we talk about our culture, about the things we do within our communities,” Bill said. This has become more important in hiring and engaging members of all workforce generations, including Millennials and Generation Z, who are looking for careers with purpose, and workplaces where their employers embrace their contributions and all parts of their identity so they can be their whole selves at work, he said.

On March 15, Bill Yoh will describe how Day & Zimmermann nurtured his father’s legacy and successfully completed successions through three generations, as well as the current planning for Generation 4, with guidance from DVFBC, of which Day & Zimmermann is a member. He also will share his experiences with the loss of family members and the impact on his family and their business.

Conference attendees will also have opportunities to respond to relevant and thought-provoking questions so they can learn from each other, and a panel of DVFBC advisors will offer their own stories and real-life experience as they have guided other business families through their own transitions.

“Anyone involved in a family business, will be motivated and inspired by Bill’s story about the process and challenges his family and family business went through,” Derstine said. “They no
doubt will also learn a few things they can apply to their own family and business practices.”
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The Delaware Valley Family Business Center’s mission is for business families to flourish as individuals, families, and enterprises. DVFBC guides business families through the incredible natural complexity they face as they strive for family harmony and business sustainability. Learn more about the DVFBC, its services and leadership here: dvfbc.com