“Communication issues are the cause of many roadblocks in family businesses”. This statement comes from Pedro Regueiro, guest on the second episode of Family Business Talks, a videocast by CATÓLICA-LISBON exploring the dynamics and challenges of family businesses. As a consultant specializing in family-owned enterprises and founder of In Family Globex, Pedro shared his insights with students from the Mastering Family Businesses discipline, drawing on over two decades of experience in supporting business families with complex decision-making, succession, and wealth management processes.
With a background in Physical Sciences, an MBA from IESIDE Business School, and a specialization in Executive Coaching, Pedro has consolidated a skill set crucial for working with family businesses. “In pure sciences, we learn that there are no absolute truths, and this helps me understand how different people can perceive the same situation in distinct ways”, he explains. According to Pedro, the ability to recognize and mediate divergent perspectives is key to managing the internal conflicts that often arise within family-owned businesses.
Pedro’s decision to specialize in family businesses developed naturally in his career, spurred by a move to Vigo, where he began working with smaller companies. He quickly realized that family businesses, regardless of the sector, face unique challenges, particularly in communication between owners and family members. “When there is no interpersonal communication among owners, the most important decisions get stalled. This can lead to the sale of the company, asset dispersion, or, in many cases, weakened financial results and even the business’s disappearance in the medium term”, he warns.
Through his company, In Family Globex, Pedro helps business families establish effective communication systems and decision-making processes that support the business’s longevity. His focus on fostering healthy family dynamics has allowed many of these companies to thrive across generations, countering statistics showing that only 15% of family businesses reach the third generation.
With clients in Spain, Portugal, and Mexico, Pedro observes common themes among family businesses. “Even though topics vary — whether it’s a wealth distribution scheme, a family protocol, or a compensation structure — the challenge is always the same: finding a middle ground that satisfies the majority. At the end of the day, we have a group of owners with different criteria, and the difficulty lies in mediating and adopting a solution that addresses everyone’s concerns,” he notes in the interview.
In the second episode of CATÓLICA-LISBON’s Family Business Talks videocast, the founder of In Family Globex shares practical advice for family business owners, emphasizing the importance of planning and flexibility in adapting to each generation’s needs and contexts. The key recommendations are improving interpersonal communication and creating a corporate governance structure, which defines the family members' roles in various decision-making forums.
Listen to Pedro Regueiro’s full interview on Family Business Talks here.