Invisible Giants

Women play visible and invisible roles in the family. It is important to recognize these roles. It is important to plan for the transferring of these roles.

I’ve used the term invisible giants to qualify all the jobs that women do, all the roles that women play, that are very important to the functioning of the family business, but not necessarily recognized. First of all, as mothers, they raise the next generation. As spouses they are support to the entrepreneur, and very often the actually play a role within the business, without having an official role. Such as, informally, or formally, interviewing future collaborators, contributing to the accounting, etc., etc. and sometimes the women also play a role in contributing with financial capital, bringing money to the business. So we can see that in every circle, whether it be the family or the business, or the ownership they play those subtle invisible roles. The role of mediation, for instance, is not an official role, it’s an invisible role, but some family members and very often women play a key role in bringing the family together, fostering family cohesion, making sure that conflicts are dealt with. And when these people disappear, which is sometimes the case of the grandmother, when the grandmother passes away, no one else takes over the role, so it’s very important to recognize it, to be able to transfer it and always have someone in each generation playing that role.