When two generations run a company together, the question inevitably arises of who is responsible for which topics. At the continuing education company IFG, the organiser of the Dental Summer at Timmendorfer Strand, the answer is clearly divided: founder Wilhelm Hakim keeps the organisation of the established events in his hands, while his 20-year-old son Chris drives forward social media, digital products and new formats. In the episode “Wie übergibt man ein Lebenswerk?” of the podcast Queens & Sons of Dentistry, both describe how this division of labour came about – and why it works.
A clear division of tasks between the generations
By his own assessment, Chris Hakim contributes above all ideas that his father does not reject but would no longer have implemented himself. Social media is the best example of this: his father is delighted with every new follower record, but has said openly that he is “not that keen” on reels and similar formats – his son should do that. Precisely here Chris sees his advantage: he grew up with these platforms, consumes the content himself and thereby develops a feel for which idea might go viral. His father sums up the division of roles with an image: he himself built the big motorway, while Chris finds the shortcuts – the one is more committed to the proven, the other more open to the new, and it is precisely this intersection that complements one another outstandingly well.
Freedom as a prerequisite for reach
For content actually to achieve reach, in Chris Hakim's conviction one thing above all is needed: freedom for innovation. In the podcast he describes concretely what this means – for instance the possibility of scheduling an employee at short notice for two days in order to produce reels that can go viral, instead of putting every decision through lengthy consultations. He also claims this freedom in the design of the website: with the old content alone, no modern presence can be built. How differently the generations think here is shown by the occasion for the project: from the father's point of view, the six-year-old website worked perfectly well; the son countered that many prospective customers were being lost through it. The result: a new website is now being created for several tens of thousands of euros, which Chris is allowed to design according to his own ideas.
Digital products and formats for the young target group
Beyond maintaining the channels, Chris Hakim is increasingly responsible for products of his own. Around a year and a half ago, together with his father, he launched an online course on the subject of social media, whose distribution he supports from start to finish – he describes it as his course. In a further cooperation he likewise takes on the sales support. Added to this is a new event format: the Dental Winter, which took place for the first time this year and is aimed specifically at younger participants. Chris describes his target group precisely – graduates who are just coming out of university and going into practices. The environment for this is large: the IFG today reaches around 16,000 seminar participants per year, in online as well as in-person formats.
Digital yes – but meeting in person remains
For all the digitalisation, father and son draw a clear line in the podcast. Although in times of artificial intelligence and online formats everyone could theoretically meet digitally, people still want to meet in person. Wilhelm Hakim recalls how much the participants missed direct exchange after the coronavirus period, and hopes that meeting in person – networking, conversations, celebrating together – will still be just as important in 20 years' time. Chris Hakim formulates the same goal for the future of the events: to grow without losing their own values, and to preserve the special spirit of the format. In this understanding, social media is not a substitute for personal encounter, but the way to reach the next generation in the first place – built on the foundation laid by the generation before.