Pablo Lara, General Manager of the Education Area and Member of the Board of Grupo Planeta, was one of three business people who participated in a round table entitled “The family business: managing with values“. The event was held at the Annual Meeting of the Catalan Association of Family Businesses (ASCEF) on November 26.

Mr Lara, who belongs to the third generation of the company’s family, said that values “lend personality to family businesses. They are something intangible that enables the family business to function and they earn trust because they provide a sign that we are thinking in the long term.” He added that a family business is “more intensely felt” due to the fact that “the reputation of our company is ours: our product is associated with us.”

“Young talent is what concerns me the most,” he continued, even though he added that “the family business has values that young people will not find in another company; we build an offer of value that makes us attractive to young talent.”

Looking forward, Mr Lara feels that the three major challenges facing family businesses in the future are “talent, moderation and governance.” In this regard, he underlined the importance of “thinking about what follows the crisis before reaching it; now is a good time to steal a march on some companies.”

Together with Mr Lara, the guests at the business round table at the ASCEF Annual Meeting were Antonio Gallardo, the Honorary Vice-President of Almirall and Honorary President of ASCEF, and Ramon Agenjo, the Board Member and Secretary of S.A. DAMM.