RMU Panel: You can't force your kids into the family business

Adams said he’s often asked by peers in the industry how to get their children interested in joining the company.

“At the end of the day, there’s nothing you can do to make your son want to go into the business,” Adams said during a panel discussion at the Recycled Materials Association’s Roundtable in Chicago recently. “They have to make that decision on their own. And I must say I was surprised when they told me they wanted to come into the business.

“When I was growing up, I didn’t really have a choice, because if you didn’t work you didn’t eat,” Adams laughed. As CEO of SA Recycling, he helms the California-headquartered company with his own siblings.

“So often money destroys a business, right? And I am very lucky that I had the support of my parents, my siblings, two who are still working with me in the company today, and now my sons, and my wife, who I met at the company.”

Fellow panelist, Frank Cozzi, CEO of Cozzi Recycling, said the secret to building any business is to have a good team around you.

“What better place to start and build a nucleus than within your own family, people you can trust and who have the same goals,” Cozzi said.

Cozzi Recycling began as a rag-and-junk business founded by the Cozzi family in 1945 in the Chicago area. It has since grown to be one of the largest scrap companies in the Midwest. Now headquartered in Bellwood, Ill., the company is a mill-direct supplier of both ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal.

Cozzi said the younger generation was familiar with the history of the company and the challenges it faced at different times.

“Trying to teach them not to make the same mistakes that we made, that’s been a challenge in some respects, but they have the work ethic and knowledge of the industry,” Cozzi said. “Many of my sons have been around the business now for 30 years. They’re pretty much what drives things today.”

Adams said he and his kids don’t always agree on what direction they should go. He noted how much they rely on technology to aid decision making.

“Business today is all data driven,” Adams said. “I’m 68 so I didn’t grow up with a computer. I didn’t have a cell phone until I was 30.

“You can’t run an organization as big as ours without data,” Adams said. “They have a huge advantage over me on that, but, at the end of the day, it’s going to be their company. So I don’t take it personal. Some fathers say it’s their way or the highway. It’s just not that way with me.”