Cort Brazelton on How to Own a Family Business Without Having to Run It | The Family Biz Show Ep. 135

What if protecting your family business for the next generation means accepting that your family doesn’t always have to run it?

What if stepping out of the CEO role isn’t giving up control—but becoming a better owner?

“I want the business to stay in the family, but does that mean a family member has to lead it?”

“How do we bring in outside executives without losing what makes our company ours?”

“How do we prepare the next generation to become responsible owners—even if they never work in the business?”

“How do we build something that can thrive long after today’s leaders are gone?”

This conversation gives you a different way to think about the answer.

In this episode of The Family Business Show, Michael Palumbos talks with Cort Brazelton of Fall Creek Nursery, an Oregon-based family-owned blueberry genetics and nursery company with operations around the world.

Cort and his sister returned to the family business in 2008 and helped transform it from a primarily Pacific Northwest company into an international organization. Since then, the business has grown more than 39X while remaining family-owned.

But the bigger story isn’t simply growth.

It’s how the Brazelton family learned to separate family, ownership, governance, and management—and why Cort ultimately stepped away from the CEO position while remaining an engaged owner.

As Fall Creek strengthened its governance, the family began building a board primarily made up of independent, non-family directors. Being based in Oregon also gave them access to accomplished business leaders from the broader community surrounding major companies such as Nike and Intel—the caliber of people Cort once wondered would even be interested in joining the board of a family-owned company.

Today, Fall Creek is led by professional, non-family executives. For Cort, that structure isn’t about distancing the family from the company. It’s about giving the business the leadership it needs while allowing the family to think like long-term owners and stewards.

Cort shares how his family brought in outside advisors, strengthened independent governance, recruited leaders with capabilities beyond their own, and began preparing the third generation to become responsible shareholders rather than automatically assuming they should become executives.

The lesson is simple but challenging: being born into the owning family does not automatically make someone the best person to lead the business.

When you separate ownership from employment and executive leadership, you create room to ask a better question: What does the business actually need to thrive?

You’ll also hear why Cort believes family ownership can be a powerful advantage in an industry that requires investments measured in decades. Fall Creek’s blueberry breeding work can take 15, 20, or even 30 years to produce results—making patient, generational thinking especially valuable.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why owning a family business doesn’t mean your family has to manage it

• How separating family, shareholder, board, and management roles can create greater clarity

• Why Fall Creek built a board primarily composed of independent, non-family directors

• How Oregon’s business community, including talent associated with companies such as Nike and Intel, expanded the caliber of leaders Fall Creek could approach

• How Cort and his sister helped scale the business more than 39X after returning in 2008

• Why bringing in professional leadership can strengthen rather than diminish family ownership

• How shareholder aspirations can give the board and management direction without family owners interfering in day-to-day decisions

• Why next-generation preparation should include learning how to become a responsible shareholder

• How long-term family ownership supports investments that may take decades to pay off

• Why stewardship means putting the needs of the business, employees, customers, and other stakeholders ahead of personal titles or ego

From its roots in Oregon to nursery, R&D, and breeding operations across multiple countries, Fall Creek demonstrates another possible path for a family enterprise: keep the ownership, strengthen the governance, hire the leadership the business needs, and think in generations rather than quarters.

If you’re navigating succession, wondering whether the next generation should run the company, or trying to build a family business capable of thriving beyond any one leader, this episode offers a practical look at what long-term stewardship can mean.