David Smorgon, businessman and adviser

03/23/22 • 39 min

At its peak, in the early 1990s, Smorgon Consolidated Industries was one of the largest and most diverse family businesses in Australia.
David Smorgon estimates that there were 25 family members across three generations working in the business, whose origins can be traced to a kosher butcher in Lygon Street, Carlton, in 1927.
On top of that, there were another 200 family members who didn’t work in the business, but who were nevertheless involved as direct and indirect shareholders.
The company was broken up in 1995 and the family members went their separate ways when it came to business, but in the case of David Smorgon, who many in Melbourne would know was the president of the Western Bulldogs Football Club from 1997 to 2012, a legacy of more than 30 years working in a family business led to a wealth of knowledge that he now passes on as the chief executive of Pointmade, a Melbourne-based family advisory firm.
He and his fellow advisers counsel family businesses across a variety of issues, and in the latest Lap of Caulfield Park podcast, he tells Ashley Browne that communication issues often run at the heart of conflicts in family businesses.
“Are you really calling a spade a spade? Are you really getting to the core of issues when you’re relaying messages to other members of the family or are you playing around the boundary line rather than being in the centre square,” he said.
In a wide-ranging conversation, Smorgon discusses:

The need for open, honest and transparent discussion between family members, without boundaries.
Succession planning and how elderly family patriarchs and matriarchs can be convinced to finally cede control
Where the Smorgon family sometimes got it wrong
Some case studies where independent mediation has helped solve family business issues
The need for regular family business health checks?
Succession, the TV series and how many people in family business watch it religiously
His beloved Western Bulldogs and their prospects for 2022.

You can subscribe to A Lap of Caulfield Park through Apple Podcasts, Spotify and your favourite podcast player.

The need for open, honest and transparent discussion between family members, without boundaries.
Succession planning and how elderly family patriarchs and matriarchs can be convinced to finally cede control
Where the Smorgon family sometimes got it wrong
Some case studies where independent mediation has helped solve family business issues
The need for regular family business health checks?
Succession, the TV series and how many people in family business watch it religiously
His beloved Western Bulldogs and their prospects for 2022.

You can subscribe to A Lap of Caulfield Park through Apple Podcasts, Spotify and your favourite podcast player.

Previous Episode

Julie Szego, journalist

On the final Lap of Caulfield Park podcast for 2021, Ashley Browne is joined by fellow journalist (and fellow The Age alumnus) for a broad discussion and occasional deep dive into the news and views of the day and the year.

On the agenda are:

Memories of working for The Age and why she left.

The weekly column that Julie still writes for the newspaper.

COVID. Did 2021 become even harder to navigate than 2020? And what were her coping strategies?

Her strong views on public versus private education and would a public model work for the Jewish community?

Social media and its pitfalls.

Her reading, listening and watching recommendations for the summer holidays.

A Lap of Caulfield Park is presented by Plus 61J Media and is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and your favourite podcast provider.