Ron and Betty Manolio started a family enterprise in 1957 — only they didn’t call it an enterprise It was just a hobby to display Easter eggs on their lawn every spring.
Each year, there were more eggshells and the designs became more sophisticated. The number rose from a simple cross made of 750 eggs to nearly 55,000 — and Eggshelland, the subject of this month’s Uniquely Cleveland, was hatched.
Using plans developed by Betty, the couple’s children and later grandchildren helped place the eggs on the pegs in the ground that held them in the shape of characters and designs. But even before they got to that stage, family members would often gather at area restaurants to crack open eggs that were donated to the cause and escort the shells back home where Ron, a cameraman for WKYC-TV, would painstakingly paint them.
That was one constant that never changed. Ron was the CEO of the painting process and family members were delegated other duties to make the displays happen.
The Manolio family perhaps unknowingly took a page from the best practices of family businesses: A successful family business has a strong sense of purpose. Over the years, they developed collaboration techniques that addressed who did what, when, where and how.
You can also make the comparison that there was an entrepreneurial spirit and culture alive in the Manolio family to ensure that Eggshelland appeared each year.
One of the speakers at a recent EY Strategic Growth Forum® said the challenge for her organization was to preserve its culture. The family aspect set the company apart from the rest of its competitors and had a big role to play in where the firm was today.
With an entrepreneurial culture such as in a family business, people have a sense of ownership and a sense of empowerment.
“It is very important for us to retain that, to preserve that if we want to grow,” she says. “We have recognized this as a challenge and we are working very hard on measures to try to ensure that we sustain our culture as we grow, to keep that entrepreneurial spirit going.”
Consultants say that family businesses can go under for several reasons, including conflicts over money, poor management due to nepotism and disagreements over how the power will pass from one generation to the next.
In regard to the last point, the Manolio family had an exit strategy: When Ron passed away in August 2012 there was one last display the following spring. Then the eggshells were donated to The Euclid Beach Boys organization, which put a version of Eggshellland on display in 2014. The group is planning a showing this year as well.
“Putting these on display must have been a labor of love,” says Joe Tomaro of the Euclid Beach Boys. “It surely was.”
Of course it was — it was all in the family.
