Mitzi Perdue - Hotels, Chicken, and Sunken Treasure

Mitzi Perdue knows that every family business has a culture. The
question is, does this culture come about by design or by default?
The ones that come about by default rarely support keeping the
family business in the family across the generations. So, what can
a family do to develop and strengthen a culture that will support
their deepest goals and values? Mitzi Perdue draws on the
experience of her family of origin, the Henderson Estate Company
which dates back to 1840 and was the forerunner of the Sheraton
Hotels (her father was co-founder of the chain). She also looks to
her marital family (she’s the widow of Frank Perdue from Perdue
Farms) that began in 1920. In both cases, family members in each
generation put enormous effort into creating and maintaining
strong, values-based cultures. Her talks stem from her lifelong
observations not only of how her two families have kept together
over a combined total of 280 years, but she’s also closely observed
how other high net worth families, often ones she’s known since
childhood, created and continuously strengthen positive cultures.
She’s also observed almost countless cases where families that
lacked a supportive culture failed spectacularly. Mitzi’s talks
contain practical tips for embedding a positive culture. She’s been
a part of carrying out all of them, and in some cases, creating
them. These are tips that work, they’re practical, and they can
make a spectacular difference in whether the family continues
across the generations, or becomes one of the 70% that fails to
pass on their legacy to the next generation. Mitzi is a
businesswoman, author, and a master story teller. She holds degrees
from Harvard University and George Washington University, is a past
president of the 40,000 member American Agri-Women and was one of
the U.S. Delegates to the United Nations Conference on Women in
Nairobi. She currently writes for the Academy of Women’s Health,
and GEN, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. Most
recently, she’s authored Tough Man, Tender Chicken: Business and
Life Lessons from Frank Perdue. The book made #5 on Amazon’s
Business Biographies, out of a field of 20,000. She’s also the
author of, I Didn’t Bargain for This, her story of growing up as a
hotel heiress. A woman of many talents, she also programmed a
computer app, B Healthy U, designed to help people track the
interactions of lifestyle factors that influence their energy,
sleep, hunger, mood, and ability to handle stress. In addition to
being a programmer and software developer, Mitzi is also an artist
and designer of EveningEggs handbags. In addition, Mitzi the author
of more than 1800 newspaper and magazine articles on family
businesses, food, agriculture, the environment, philanthropy,
biotechnology, genetic engineering, and women’s health. She was a
syndicated columnist for 22 years, and her weekly environmental
columns were distributed first by California’s Capitol News and
later, by Scripps Howard News Service, to roughly 420 newspapers.
For two years she was a Commissioner on the National Commission on
Libraries and Information Science. Mitzi also produced and hosted
more than 400 half hour interview shows, Mitzi’s Country Magazine
on KXTV, the CBS affiliate in Sacramento, California. In addition,
she hosted and produced more than 300 editions of Mitzi’s Country
Comments, which was syndicated to 76 stations. Her radio series,
Tips from the Farmer to You, was broadcast weekly for two years on
the Coast to Coast Radio Network. Mitzi is also a champion in the
fight against human trafficking with her organization, Win This
Fight! Check out the website and her instagram page! 
https://www.winthisfight.org/ Instagram: @winthisfight4good Follow
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