Leadership begins with confidence and collaboration, says Marin County commercial real estate CEO

Being at the top of a family business can come with pressures that aren’t present in other work situations.

In the same year she was born, 1970, Stephanie Plantes grandfather Martin Bramante founded CPi Developers in San Rafael. Today she is CEO, President and sole owner after buying up an aunt and two cousins.

While change can be good, Plante admits that in a family-run business, changes from the way they’re always done – like turning paper files into digital documentation – have emotional threads. As with another topic: Thinking about who will take over the business.

“I’ve read a lot about how to get the first or second generation after the founder to bite and stay, but after that it gets tougher. I think there is an attraction to keeping it going for me, ”said Plante.

But she also admitted, “I’m not so attached to how (my grandfather) was.”

For now, she plans to continue to acquire, manage, and develop commercial real estate across California. There is no retirement date on the calendar, nor is she looking for a buyer for the company.

Below are other insights Plante shared with the North Bay Business Journal.

What is your approach to making difficult and important business decisions?

I’ve been fortunate to have found some great mentors and advisers over the years that I can rely on. I’ve learned that knowing what you don’t know and asking for help works very well.

What trends influencing your industry keep you up at night?

I think most of us small business owners are concerned about COVID and its variants. The resulting stock issues exposed definitely worries me as well as the stories of how long it will take for certain systems like the supply chain to recover.

What qualities do you admire in other executives whom you have tried to imitate?

I admire people who lead with a cooperative style. I am drawn to trust in a leader and I often look for women who will fight for other women in the workforce and beyond.

How do your mentors affect your career??

Without a mentor in particular, I might not have stayed in this career. With all due respect to my relatives, family businesses are complicated. I am very fortunate to have a mentor who specializes in this area who has kept me from giving up more than once.

What was the hardest lesson you learned early in your career that you now recognize as important?

Sometimes you have to shut up. I believe so much in what I think is right and fair, but I am still learning when to speak my mind and when to hold my cards. It’s an art.

Even in a family business, I tend to rush the conclusion so that we can now simply put our cards on the table. But you can’t skip all the chapters, you have to go through all the stations.

It’s really about patience. I am trying to learn patience.

If I don’t have a project in front of the city of San Rafael and have the opportunity to give time back and I can work for another organization, I’ll get in touch. I am a community member with an interest in the community’s wellbeing. I really try to take this responsibility seriously.

After your grandparents started the business, what are some of the added burdens of running CPi?

It’s that sense of obligation. My mom died when I was 29 so I decided to help my grandparents by coming to work and trying to pick up where my mom left off. Feeling like I was a generation up after she died weighed on me. Not only did my grandparents think I was one of their daughters, but so did many people in the business world.

Would you encourage your two children to follow in your footsteps? Why or why not?

Probably not. I want each of my children to have their own interests. If that pursuit leads either of them back to commercial real estate or real estate development I would want it to be done on their own terms.

What would you do again in your career if you could and why?

I think I would have done that again before I started my career, and that would have branched out a bit. Had I known that I would end up running my family’s business, I might have moved away for college and abroad to study.

I went to UC Berkeley from San Rafael High.

My mom has been a single mom since I was 10. She was divorced. She had never been alone until I went to college. I couldn’t blame her for not being encouraged to look very far.

I was pretty tied to my mom because I was so close to school and maybe that led to my choosing to work.

I wanted to encourage my children wherever they want to go. I think the worldview is expanding.