Reinventing the family business

Corporate reinvention through innovation has defined Cisneros from its earliest days. In 1939, Adriana’s grandfather, Diego Cisneros, made the two-week voyage by steamship from Caracas to New York to attend the World’s Fair.

The soda he sampled when he got there wasn’t at all to his tastes, but he nevertheless recognized that it might have mass appeal in his native continent. And so it was that the far-sighted owner of a trucking company acquired the exclusive sales and marketing rights to Pepsi Cola in Venezuela.

Thirsty Venezuelans were among the first to benefit from Cisneros’ innovative flair. Its founder also came by the rights to Ford and Studebaker vehicles in the early days.

My father Gustavo followed in my grandfather’s footsteps,” says Adriana. “He introduced lots of amazing brands into Latin America. Satellite entertainment was probably his boldest move, as it meant we had to launch our own satellite into space. As a teenager, I’ll never forget standing with my father at Cape Canaveral, watching as it entered into orbit.

Corporate renewal 

Today, Cisneros is a dynamic global organization. It owns Venezuela’s largest television network, as well as the largest independent TV and film studio serving the Spanish-speaking communities across the Americas. Despite the breadth of its operations, however, the company today is set up very differently to when Adriana took the helm. One of her first acts was to oversee a rootand-branch restructuring of its operations, rationalizing twenty-eight silos into three divisions and creating much more connectivity within them.

We now have media, interactive, and real estate says Adriana. We've been in media for seventy five years. Our content is seen in over 100 countries in thirteen languages. Cisneros Interactive is our digital business, with our regional advertising network. Real Estate is another new division. It's about identifying and developing high-end projects, like the amazing beach resort hotel and golf course we're working on in the Dominican Republic. Oh, and then there's a new division we're putting together. But that's a secret for now.

Digital rebirth 

Adriana first joined the family business in a specially created role, which allowed her to get a unique perspective into its workings. No one knew what ‘director of strategy’ really meant she recalls.

That was wonderful because it gave me full access. I was able to go into any meeting and ask any question. As well as the need for restructuring, one of the insights I gained was from studying how our content was being consumed digitally by the outside world. Cisneros’ most famous content is probably its telenovelas – colorful, racy, soap opera-like series – which enjoy a cult-following across the Spanish-speaking world.

I noticed that people were sharing our content on YouTube and it was getting millions of views. We recognized that younger people were increasingly consuming shows on YouTube at a time when many thought the platform was just for videos of cats playing the piano. We also realized that there was a lot of money to be made from digital traffic but that there was no one specializing in that traffic in the Hispanic market.

The success of the company’s new strategy really began to hit home during the screening of Eva Luna, a love story set in Los Angeles. A Spanish-language soap opera was getting higher viewing figures than a hit reality show about dancingsays Adriana. Everyone was trying to figure out where our extra fifteen million viewers had come from. Our digital strategy had gotten people watching on their cellphones and computers, not just on TV. Grandmothers were watching but so was the sixteen-year old granddaughter. We had made our programming reach a much younger audience.

Almost a hundred years after Diego Cisneros began his journey of innovation, the company that bears his name believes that it is well positioned for the next century. My father and grandfather always took a long-term view and that’s what we’re still doing today says Adriana. “Long-term horizons and objectives help stop you panicking every time the economy does something funny. In Latin America, you can easily have a few countries suffering political or economic instability at any given moment. Playing the long game and having pan-regional exposure helps us mitigate those risks. It’s been really fruitful for us.”

It was never written in the stars that Adriana would lead the family business. As the youngest of three siblings by ten years, she may indeed have been regarded as an unlikely choice. Neither does Cisneros insist that its leaders are drawn from the Cisneros family. Adriana’s predecessor in the top job – who served a successful fifteen years in charge – was from outside the bloodline. So, how did the art history and journalism graduate end up as CEO of Cisneros?

And so, a formal program was put together for Adriana. I basically went back to school. I had this incredible professor called John Davis who specializes in family businesses she recalls.

He tailor-made a program for me, and I did all the classes between Harvard Business School and Columbia Business School. I also had a finance tutor. Everything I was learning was specific to running family businesses. No case studies of Chinese agricultural companies! It was all media, family, innovation, Latin America, and so on. I had two children in the meantime but somehow I felt like I could do it all.

So, what advice would Adriana give to the many young family members whose families expect them to follow in their footsteps? If you’re feeling pressured into joining the family business, say you don’t want to and make sure your family listens. I often see people who never wanted to join or lead their family business, but who cave in. It never turns out well.