What Happens When the Next Generation Doesn’t Want to Run the Family Business?

.) Because of expectations for him to graduate college and work for the family business started by his grandfather, Ryan O’Reilly felt cornered. And after four years of doing just that, he felt something was missing and needed more from his life.

When Ryan O’Reilly was born in 1978, O’Reilly Auto Parts was a modestly sized, family-owned company with a single distribution center and about 10 stores in and around Springfield, Mo. By the time he ended his employment with his family business in 2003, it had grown into a publicly traded company with 12 distribution centers and over 1,500 stores spanning 26 states. The company had grown in such a way that by the time he was old enough to become part of it on a corporate level, it had changed dramatically.

“I had worked in corporate for only three years when my attitude toward the company and my understanding about my future within it began to change,” says O’Reilly. “During the time I worked in the corporate office, I began to understand that my romantic notion of running the business one day and passing it on to my children had taken a backseat to the cold reality of business, and that the company was too big to be a family business anymore.”

After selling his house and everything he owned on a whim, he moved to Austin, Texas, much to his father’s dismay.

“Having a family business doesn’t always mean it’s what you have to do. Workers in younger generations don’t stick with the same career like their parents did. In fact, we have a distinct advantage now that older generations did not. That is, more freedom and flexibility to experiment with different careers and find what feels right,” says O’Reilly.

O’Reilly has since enjoyed success in the music industry and is now the managing director of 415 Entertainment. However, before settling down in Austin, he traveled around the U.S. with only a backpack and a motorcycle. Hence, his semi-autobiographical novel, Snapshot (Black Oak Press, Aug 2007, $9.95, Paperback, ISBN: 978-0-9794128-0-6), was birthed.