Family businesses often hope to pass from one generation to the next, but Boston real estate entrepreneur Anwar Faisal says continuity requires more than sharing a last name. With his own children now involved in the family business, Faisal is encouraging business owners to begin conversations about the next generation early, rather than waiting until retirement or a leadership change is imminent.
Faisal's perspective comes from more than four decades in business. He purchased his first Boston property, a modest 590-square-foot apartment, in 1984. Over the years, that initial investment grew into a portfolio of thousands of residential units across Greater Boston through Alpha Management Corporation. Today, his children are involved in the family business, giving him firsthand experience with the opportunities and challenges of bringing another generation into an established company.
"A family business cannot wait until the last minute to think about the next generation," Faisal said. "People need time to learn. They need experience, and they need the opportunity to make decisions while the older generation is still there to guide them."
Faisal believes one of the biggest mistakes a family business can make is assuming that a younger family member is automatically prepared for leadership. A title, he says, should follow experience rather than replace it. "Being part of the family does not mean you understand every part of the business," he said. "You still have to learn the work. You have to understand the people, the problems, and the responsibility that comes with making decisions."
Instead of immediately placing younger family members into senior positions, Faisal recommends gradually increasing their responsibilities. That can mean learning different parts of the operation, working alongside experienced employees, participating in decisions, and eventually taking ownership of specific areas. This approach also gives the next generation room to determine whether the family business is genuinely the right career for them. "You want someone to be there because they care about the work and want the responsibility," Faisal said. "Family alone cannot create that commitment."
Preparing the next generation does not mean expecting younger family members to operate exactly as their parents did. Faisal believes established business owners should be willing to listen when younger generations bring different ideas, experiences, or ways of approaching problems. "The goal should not be to create another version of yourself," he said. "The next generation will see some things differently. That can be good for a business if everyone is willing to listen." At the same time, Faisal believes change should be balanced with an understanding of why existing practices were established. A younger generation may bring new perspectives, while an older generation can provide context gained through years of experience. When those perspectives are treated as complementary rather than competing, Faisal believes family businesses are better positioned to adapt without losing the principles that helped them succeed.
Working with relatives also introduces a challenge that businesses without family ties do not face: disagreements at work can easily follow people home. Faisal believes families should make a deliberate effort to distinguish between personal relationships and professional responsibilities. "You can love someone as a family member and still disagree with a business decision," he said. "You have to be able to separate those two things. Otherwise, every business disagreement becomes personal." Clear roles can help. Family members should understand what they are responsible for, who has authority over particular decisions, and what is expected of them. Faisal also believes they should be held to meaningful standards rather than receiving special treatment simply because they are related to the owner. That clarity becomes increasingly important as a company grows and more people become involved.
For Faisal, preparing a family business for the future is less about choosing a successor on a particular date and more about steadily transferring knowledge. Some lessons can be explained. Others have to be experienced. Business owners can share how they evaluate opportunities, manage difficult situations, communicate with people, and think about risk. Younger family members can then develop their own judgment by applying those lessons to real responsibilities. "You cannot transfer decades of experience in one conversation," Faisal said. "You share it little by little. Then you give people room to build experience of their own."
Faisal encourages family business owners to begin those conversations while there is still plenty of time to make adjustments. They can identify who is interested in participating, expose younger family members to different areas of the operation, define responsibilities, and discuss what the company's long-term future might look like. The objective, he says, is not simply to preserve a business exactly as it exists today. It is to give the next generation enough knowledge and responsibility to continue building on it. "A business should be able to grow beyond the person who started it," Faisal said. "If the next generation understands the responsibility that comes with what was built, they have an opportunity to take it further."
