How the Sons Rise

The young Yaleman who recently entered executive training at Pittsburgh's H. J. Heinz Co. was typical in everything but his well-tested name: H. J. (for Henry John) Heinz III. The son, grandson and great-grandson of Heinz presidents, Jack Heinz, 27, may someday run the company--but that future is by no means assured. Widespread public ownership of companies that once were family-owned has ruled out most automatic successions, and the sons of corporate bosses have to work hard and compete with a lot of bright young men if they hope to win their fathers' posts. Fortunately for U.S. business, many sons are showing not only that they can guide companies to bigger growth and better profits, but that they can often do better than their fathers. In the process, they are disproving the Greek adage that "great men's sons seldom do well" and silencing the hoary sayings and snickers about the boss's son.

Talent & Work. San Francisco's Levi Strauss & Co., a family-owned firm that has grown from work pants to general men's sportswear, has nearly tripled its size under the aggressive direction of Walter A. Haas Jr., 49, who took over his father's old job in 1958. In the same year, Edward B. Rust, 46, became president of State Farm Mutual Insurance when Father Adlai stepped up to chairman; under Edward, the nation's largest automobile insurance firm has increased its policyholders from 5,500,000 to 8,500,000, raised its premium income 123% to $727,800,000.

Though Ralph Lazarus, 51, was assured a job with Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores because he was the fourth generation of what Cincinnatians call "the Lazari," it was talent and hard work that made him rise to the presidency, where he is coequal with Father Fred Jr., 80, Federated's chairman. Ralph now does most of the traveling, makes most of the decisions, and is chiefly responsible for the first $1 billion sales year in Federated's history. Since his father died in 1959, Motorola Chairman Robert W. Galvin, 42, has increased sales 43%, introduced such profitable lines as color TV and space communications equipment. As president of family-held Anheuser-Busch, Inc., and the son and grandson of presidents, August A. Busch, 66, has made his company the nation's leading brewery, is gradually turning over responsibilities to August III, 28, who is currently proving himself as vice president of marketing.

Afternoons in the Plant. The list of well-known sons who have been successes is long, includes Kaiser Industries' Edgar F. Kaiser, 56, Douglas Aircraft's Donald W. Douglas Jr., 47, and General Tire's Michael G. O'Neil, 43, who runs his father's firm in a kind of triumvirate with Brothers Thomas, 49, and John, 47. One of the recent comers is Howard Johnson, 32, who took over complete control of the restaurant and motel chain when his father retired last year. He has increased the number of restaurants, quintupled the motel business by adding rapid-telephone reservations, introduced a new cola drink (HoJo) and is expanding to the West Coast. The younger Johnson also increased the number of corporate vice presidents from four to 45, moving his father to comment: "I had a lot of good people, but they were not allowed to express themselves as they do now."

Family pride usually motivates corporate sons to do well. "I've lived with a basic philosophy about this business all my life," says Samuel C. Johnson, 37, executive vice president of Johnson's Wax; the fourth in a family line to enter the business, young Johnson can expect higher things when his father, Chairman Herbert Fisk Johnson, 65, steps down. Exposure to the inside of a company at an early age is often a definite advantage. Motorola's Galvin accompanied his father on business trips when he was eight. Charles Gates, 44, president of Denver's Gates Rubber Co., spent schoolboy afternoons in his father's plant, on the way home got lectures from dad on the rubber business. Says General Tire's Michael O'Neil: "I was 38 years old when I was named president. And that's how many years I spent getting ready for the job."

Sons often enjoy special, frank relationships with their fathers that cut through the usual corporate rituals. Hallmark Cards' Joyce C. Hall, 73, says of Son Donald, 36, his administrative vice president: "As father and son, we can go a little further in disagreeing than anybody else and still work it out quickly." On the other hand, this very familiarity can make it more difficult for the son to win non-family recognition of his talents. "No matter what you do, some people will think that being the son of the boss is why you got there," says State Farm's Rust. "Often that same question weighs on your own mind."

Thicker Than Blood. Many a son turns out to have a better grasp of the changing business world than his father had. Hotel Corp. of America's President Roger P. Sonnabend, 38, wrote a thesis at Harvard Business School on how to save money through group purchases and sales of hotels, sold the theory to Father Abe--and has made it work. David Schwartz, 62, who built Jonathan Logan Inc. into Seventh Avenue's biggest women's wear firm and last year stepped up from president to chairman to make room for Son Richard, 26, says: "When I made an acquisition, I did it by feel. But we're too big now. It's my son who says, 'We don't buy anything unless it is doing X amount of business.'

Red ink is a lot thicker than blood, and it is a rare father in modern business who is willing to turn over his company to a less-than-able son. Says Chairman Willard F. Rockwell, 77, of Son Willard Jr., 51, who was named president and chief executive of Pittsburgh's Rockwell Manufacturing Co. last month: "I knew he deserved it. But from the beginning, if I hadn't thought he could do the job, I'd have given him a bundle of money, sent him off to be a playboy, and hired somebody who could." The surprising thing about the corporate sons is that so many prefer the hard work of the executive suite to the soft alternative. This pleases the fathers, and most of them do not try to make it easy for their sons. Among Heinz executives, at President H.J. Heinz H's wish, Jack Heinz is treated just like any other trainee. With that name, of course, the main difference is that he will be expected to do a lot better than the others.

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