E N C O U NTE R
Adhering to traditional family values was a rare
virtue in a decade when going public was the
principal focus of so many entrepreneurs. For
exclusive fashion label Zegna, however, long-
term succession planning within the family has
proved a winning pattern. Today Zegna is the
global market leader in exclusive men’s fashion
with a market share of around 30 percent. The
fashion collection was added to the firm’s prin-
cipal business – the production of top quality
fabrics – in the 1960s, when Angelo and Aldo
Zegna, the sons of founder Ermenegildo, took
the helm. Since the late 1980s, Angelo’s son
Gildo and Aldo’s son Paolo have been the new
family team at the head of the company. Asked
the secret of their success, the leaders of this
fashion dynasty with its austere Catholic values
name three virtues: discipline, determination
and diligence.
EGON ZEHNDER INTERNATIONAL : How did
Ermenegildo Zegna prepare his two sons for their
future roles in corporate management?
ANGELO ZEGNA: I imagine it was much the same
as in many other Italian family firms. The impor-
tant matters were discussed within the family. From
a relatively early age my father would often talk to
my brother Aldo and me about the business. From
the age of 12, we would regularly work in the com-
pany during the summer months. Our father was
also keen that we should start learning languages.
So your traditional family ties never stood in the
way of a cosmopolitan outlook?
A. ZEGNA : My father always managed to combine
the two: He was strict but open, very tough but
friendly. He practiced a lifestyle marked by austere
Catholicism. Doing one’s duty and living up to
one’s responsibilities were his foremost maxims;
maxims he applied first to himself and then to us. It
seemed an entirely natural course of events that
one day we would take over from him.
GILDO ZEGNA: That was simply the way things
happened in family firms in that part of Italy. The
same spirit still survives today.
TH E R E I S M O R E
TO L I F E TH A N
S E L F - F U L F I L LM E NT
AND PERSONAL
A M B ITI O N
Angelo and Gildo Zegna
What kind of changes did you introduce when you
took the helm?
A. ZEGNA : The changes actually started earlier.
During my time abroad in the late 1940s, I took an
active interest in the new management techniques
emerging from the USA. When my brother and I
began to introduce these methods in Italy in 1950,
they were revolutionary. On account of our father’s
illness, there were many decisions we helped to
make and implement well before his death in 1966.
Apart from the skills of your trade, what else did
you learn from your father?
A. ZEGNA : Above all that children should be
given the opportunity to become acquainted with
foreign languages and cultures at an early age.
That’s why my three daughters began their studies
in Lausanne and Geneva, while my son went to
England to take his A-levels.
And with your A-levels in your pocket you fol-
lowed the family tradition of preparing for your
future responsibilities in the firm?
G. ZEGNA : My father had very concrete ideas
about where and how I should acquire the neces-
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Angelo Zegna was born in 1924. After studying
economics he joined the family firm which he
later managed in harness with his brother Aldo.
The cosmopolitan nature of the family, an aspect
prized by his father Ermenegildo, found expres-
sion in Angelo’s interest in US management
methods. Together, the brothers experimented
with new corporate structures even before taking
control of the firm in 1966.
Gildo Zegna, the son of Angelo, was born in 1955.
In the 1980s, together with his cousin Paolo Zegna,
he became responsible for executive management
of the Zegna Group. Before joining the family
firm Gildo had benefited from an international
education. He also worked for Bloomingdale’s in
New York and held several positions in the Zegna
Group in the USA and Spain.
Photos: Erika Koch
76 | THE NINETIES |
sary experience. As soon as I graduated in econom-
ics from University College London, I set off for
Lyon where I joined the staff at a tailor’s. Then I
spent time in Miami before moving to Berlin to sell
suits. After that I was with Boss for a month or so,
then with Bloomingdale’s as an assistant buyer.
A. ZEGNA : After six months at Bloomingdale’s
they asked him to stay and offered him promotion.
But instead of heading up the career ladder at
Bloomingdale’s you chose to return home.
G. ZEGNA : Not home to Italy, but back to the
family firm. I spent a couple of months doing
market research in Spain. Next stop was business
school at Harvard. From there, in 1982, I went to
New York, where I was head of Zegna United
States for four years before returning to Spain.
A. ZEGNA : The underlying strategy was to expose
him to different cultures and increasing degrees of
management responsibility, always in jobs related
to our own core business.
Why did you opt to return to the family firm?
G. ZEGNA : I felt there was an opportunity to grow
our business in the United States faster than many
others. That was what made up my mind.
A. ZEGNA : It was virtually his own company.
G. ZEGNA : From then on I knew where my con-
tribution to the family firm would lie. My experi-
ence was anchored in marketing, an aspect that I
believe has traditionally been weaker at Zegna. We
like to say that each generation adds a new floor to
the building. But without the strict discipline that I
learned at school and university, we could never
have succeeded – because when you apply disci-
pline to marketing you have a much more powerful
tool at your disposal.
When did you realize that your son Gildo and
nephew Paolo were the ideal successors?
A. ZEGNA : It was a gradual process. When Gildo
came back from Spain after his marketing experi-
ence there and his taste of general management,
I knew he could drive his side of the business.
And Paolo had acquired almost the same degree
of international training as Gildo.
How did you assess their business skills?
A. ZEGNA : From results alone. When he was in
the USA, Gildo triggered the immense progress
we have since achieved over there. Then came his
successful showing in Spain. I realized from these
results that he was ready for greater things.
Did you ever need to temper his enthusiasm?
A. ZEGNA : No, I’ve never had to hold him back.
But I’ve often warned him about taking on too
much responsibility. My father always used to say:
“When you load, you have to carry” – when you
take on a job within the firm you have to perform
and cannot let people down.
But such commitment is surely also a sign of some-
one out to make his mark as an entrepreneur, not
content to be the son of an entrepreneur.
A. ZEGNA : Very much so. Duty is one of the
fundamental family values – duty not least to the
family itself. There is more to life than self-fulfill-
ment and personal ambition.
G. ZEGNA : There lies the key distinction between
a purely capitalist approach and the fundamental
Catholic values we apply.
What advice would you give other family firms on
how to plan and organize succession?
A. ZEGNA : You can only mold children for their
task if they demonstrate the right skills and inter-
ests. The basic values are always the same: hard
work, discipline, persistence, the achievement of
goals and respect for the family. This duty to the
family and its values is more important than ever in
times when family relations are commonly regarded
as less important than in the past.
Can you recall there ever being serious conflict
between fathers and sons?
G. ZEGNA : On several occasions, actually. Prob-
ably the most severe conflict came up when my
father and his brother wanted to appoint a manag-
ing director for our retail division against my will.
They felt that I was overloaded.
A. ZEGNA : From our point of view it was only a
logical step. We were talking about providing Gildo
with support, not diluting his influence, but he was
absolutely against it and he prevailed.
G. ZEGNA : For me it was a fundamental issue. It
would have changed the organization dramatically.
A. ZEGNA : That is your personal view.
What makes a good entrepreneur?
A. ZEGNA : Number one is discipline and a deep-
rooted belief in what you are doing. You need to be
persistent and highly focused.
Many firms in Italy are still in family hands. What
are the perspectives for this patriarchal economic
order as markets become more global?
A. ZEGNA : Italy’s economic culture is founded on
medium-sized towns with powerful local industries,
and each company stems from a small family cell.
G. ZEGNA : The culture and the climate have to
match. The resultant blend can give rise to the
credibility of a brand or a product.
The interview with Angelo und Gildo Zegna was conducted
by Horst F. Bröcker, Giuseppe Crisci, and Ulrike Mertens
of Egon Zehnder International in Milan in 2002.
A. ZEGNA : Consider how the Italian lifestyle has
conquered the world. We may be short on technical
innovation but we are strong on practicalities: pro-
cessing raw materials to make superior products.
Given the current wave of mergers and acquisi-
tions, can you imagine Italy’s top brands being
swallowed up by luxury goods conglomerates?
A. ZEGNA : Some of the leading fashion brands
will doubtless be taken over, but in our branch we
won’t be witnessing the same level of mergers and
acquisitions as in the automotive industry. !
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