Codina Partners Part 8 - More Than A Family Business: The Inner Workings Of Codina Partners

KW: Do you go home for the family holidays and stuff?  Are you able not to talk business at the table?

AC:This is all I do. I mean I don't play golf, I don't belong to a country club, I don't like the beautiful people or going to their social stuff. What I like is working, and working with Ana. So it's not a burden. We talk about business. I get home and Ana’s office is next to me. We talk, I don't know how many times a day. I get home, the phone rings my wife, says your girlfriend is on the phone and it’s Ana to talk about, what do you think about this, did you read that, so I don't know how to do it any other way. You know it's not work for me. I enjoy it. I don't know about Ana. I’ll let her speak for herself. We’ve never had an argument. She has an MBA from MIT and I don't have a college education. All I got is instinct and God. I come from that; she comes from a structure. Even when we look at something different, we get to the conclusion together. I think it's a process that worked well.

AB:I mean it's an honor. It's a privilege. It's a very blessed situation to be able  to go to work every day and with your father. There's really nothing better. I mean we argue a lot, we used to argue a lot about the air conditioning temperature to be honest. We sort of fixed that. Believe it or not, that was a major point of contention but you know I feel very fortunate. I think it's that's a great example for my children to be a working mother and to go to work with their grandfather.

KW:Any of your kids come to the office?

AC: Oh yeah, all the time.

KW:Yes, they like coming up to the office.

KW:Following your footsteps.

AC:Her oldest his name is Armando. He’s quite a character and he sent me a picture of him sitting on my desk. So I was chatting with him, and he says you know this is going to be my office. I said not so fast. This is based on merit so you got to come here, you have to get an MBA, you come and you clean floors here and you work yourself up. We’re not a family business, we’re a business that's owned by a family.  Family is foremost and first; the business is a separate thing. Here you make the right decisions for the business you don't accommodate. Everybody is here on their merits not on an entitlement.

KW:That's the secret to success.

AC: Yes, I hate entitlements.