Matriarch of the Sheraton Hotels and Perdue Chicken Families
Mitzi Perdue belongs to two families that have each lasted over a century. The small rituals that hold them together, from an award to endowed reunions.
Mitzi Perdue
Matriarch of the Henderson (Sheraton) and Perdue families; founder of the family wine grape business
On the show
The Business Family Diagnostic · Rhythms
An award for service to the family.
Mitzi's two families honour what people give the family, at the high point of the annual reunion. Does your family have traditions that bring the generations together regularly?
“We hold a structured family meeting at least once a year.”
Biography
Mitzi Perdue is the daughter of one family business titan (her father founded the Sheraton Hotel Chain) and the widow of another (her late husband was the family business poultry magnate, Frank Perdue), and she is also a businesswoman in her own right. She started the family wine grape business, now one of the larger suppliers of wine grapes in California.
Mitzi likes nothing better than to share insider tips for successful family businesses. Her family of origin (the one that started the Sheraton Hotels) began with the family business, Henderson Estate Company, in 1840, and her Perdue family started in 1920 in the poultry business. These two families have a combined tradition of 276 years of staying together as a family.
Keep listening
If this one landed, start here next.
10
Richard Eyre
Avoiding the Entitlement Trap of Raising Children in Affluence
Rules, rituals and a family economy: what lasting institutions have.
48
Peter Evans
Trusted Advisor to Legacy Families & Member of a 7th Generation Family Holding Company
A coming-of-age ritual in a seventh-generation family.
38
Sean Lang & Jeff Watters
Appointing a Non-Family CEO & Selling a 5th Generation Business
A family office that brings 70 relatives together every 18 months.
The newsletter
The most useful things in these conversations are the things families rarely say out loud.
I share them in my newsletter once a week. Sign up to receive the ideas directly and start building the foundations for your family today.