Marco Ideas Unlimited: Generational Shifts and Entrepreneurial DNA

Women in Family Business

An increasing number of women are stepping into key leadership roles in their family enterprises. Following in the footsteps of their business-founding mothers, however, remains much less common. This was especially true in the mid-1980s when Nancy Gudekunst answered the call to help her mother, Margaret Custer Ford, with the successful promotional products company she had started in 1959 — a time when female entrepreneurs were unusual. Nancy joined the family business after she had already built a thriving company of her own and soon discovered that she not only had to navigate the challenges associated with being the “boss's daughter”, but also manage the sometimes challenging dynamic of working alongside a parent who shared the same entrepreneurial passion.

In this episode, Nancy Gudekunst, President of promotional product speciality company Marco Ideas Unlimited, discusses her unique journey into leadership within the business her mother founded. She delves into the role her own entrepreneurial background played in modernising the operation and managing professional relationships. Nancy also reflects on the challenges of guiding the company through periods of economic uncertainty and the intricacies that arose as the third generation of the family became involved in the business.