Getting Ready to Lead While Shelley Satran, 26, can recall snagging dropped nails with a magnet at age 8, her more vivid memory is the summer she spent between college semesters with a flat roof torch-down crew. “All the office ladies wanted to kill my dad,” she remembers. “They said, ‘Look at this poor girl, working on a roof!’”
But as with other summer jobs — receptionist, warehouse helper, and payables/receivables clerk —she earned credibility with coworkers. Today, as director of central services, she’s responsible for all support functions. That includes OSHA compliance, workers’ compensation, and materials orders. She has first-hand experience in what happens almost anywhere in the company.
Shelley Satran made a conscious choice to work for her dad. A summer internship at GAF Materials Corp. turned into a full-time assistant marketing manager position at the $1.6 billion roofing manufacturer’s headquarters in Wayne, N.J. But after 14 months, she returned home to the challenges her father’s company offered.
Brad Satran, meanwhile, who turns 23 in March, is fresh out of Western Oregon University, Class of 2004. He’s working in Interstate’s metal roofing division as a superintendent. A self-described “sponge” for information, he’s learning everything from estimating to installation. When he becomes proficient in sheet metal, he’ll move to another division, then another, until he’s proficient in all seven divisions. Selling is where he’d like to end up, with the ultimate goal being heading up sales.
Injuries sidelined any hopes of a pro football career, and Brad says he made “a really conscious choice” to work at Interstate. “My fear is, I’m ‘that guy’” he says. “I don’t want to be ‘that guy’ who doesn’t know what he’s doing, or ‘that guy’ being overpaid. I don’t want to be the boss’s son. I try to work harder than the next guy so people respect me.”
Necessary Positives If you looked at the Satrans through the filter of professional family business planners, this is what they’d have going for them:
The patriarch is a strong, supportive leader. Mike Satran continually challenges his kids. He files articles for them to read and makes notes on their job performance. Shelley’s next position will be vice president of operations. “You would not expect a woman to be in charge of operations at a roofing company, but I tell you, people love her and listen to her,” he says. “She’s a great leader.”
They maintain a strict separation between family and business. Shelley says her brother and dad tease her about breaking this rule, particularly when, at a family dinner, she’s dying to ask something about work.
Knowledge breeds success. Shelley’s college minor was Spanish. She’s taking a community education course in conversational Spanish to better communicate with a primarily Hispanic field force. She’s enrolled in the Future Executives Institute, formed by NRCA, where her father is a board member (see “Schooling Future Executives,” page 48). She says FEI training will force her to carefully examine family business continuity. It’s already helped her learn how her leadership style compares with her father’s.
They’re dedicated. “You don’t get to be an All-American by being a slacker,” says Mike Satran. “That dedication and leadership you learn in sports carries on into work.”
They communicate. Mike Satran has breakfast or lunch meetings with the kids to review issues and to make sure their goals and his goals are the same.
They’re flexible about the future. “We haven’t fought about anything, but we’ve had some serious discussions about where we want to go,” Shelley says. “Dad has a tendency to be everything for everyone. Brad and I can see making changes, asking, for instance, ‘What would happen if we got rid of the flat roof division?’ And dad just dies.”
They’ve built internal and external credibility. Shelley and Brad both have relationships with key suppliers, manufacturers, and peers, which they’ve developed by accompanying their father to association meetings, conventions, and business gatherings. Shelley is building her network through FEI and serves on the board of Associated Builders and Contractors.