• After graduating, Lauri Union took over her family's failing corrugated roofing business in 1992.
• As a 27-year-old president and CEO, she managed to turn the company around and sell it years later.
• Union shared five principles she said helped her save the sinking business tied to her name.

I never set out to take over the family business. My grandfather started a corrugated roofing company in North Carolina in 1946, and in the 1990s it was run by my parents while I finished business school. My plan after graduation was to live in Boston with my husband.

But when my father fell ill, the company was in dire financial straits. My mother, who had no business leadership experience, stepped in and tried to turn things around, asking me for help. The business seemed hopeless, but I wanted to help clear my parents' debts.

That meant that in 1992, at age 27, I became president and CEO of a sinking ship. Morale was low, and we'd just lost our biggest client, who contributed 25% of our revenue.

I had to overhaul the company and was able to turn it around to profitability, eventually growing our staff head count to 350 and selling to a private equity firm in 2004. Here are five lessons for running a family business that helped me get there.

Check your ego at the door, and be comfortable with saying 'I don't know'

People often think being a leader means knowing what to do. When I joined my family's business, I arrived with prestigious academic degrees including an MBA from Harvard. But I only worked there before for 6 weeks in one summer, so I knew very little about it. I also had never led any organization.

I quickly realized that the people who worked in the business had tremendous knowledge and that I could contribute far more by asking open-ended questions than by trying to take control and tell people what to do. I spent most of my first few months interviewing people in the company and figuring out the business.

As a result, within a few short months, I had more knowledge about the business and industry than virtually anyone else in the company. While each person knew their role, I was the only one who had interviewed so many people that I had a broad perspective on the company. I envisioned it as everyone having their own pie slice, but my goal was to see the entire pie.

Stay close to your family, but don't let family emotions interfere with your decisions.

Working with family can bring up strong emotions, like frustration when a parent tells you what to do in front of other employees you are trying to lead. Or a feeling of rejection when a parent doesn't recognize what you consider to be a great achievement.

Families pass emotions between members, so negative emotions can spiral. Those negative emotions can lead people to make decisions that make them feel better, rather than decisions that work best for the business. And those negative emotions can seriously damage family relationships.

Be aware of your emotions and empathetic to your family, but be willing to make decisions that achieve shared goals, even if they are hard. Spending personal time away from work with my mom also helped us to stay close, even if we might disagree about something at work.

It's easier to get employees on board with your family's values. Use that.

Family businesses have a superpower in their ability to consistently lead through a set of values that employees and customers can relate to. That makes the work of running the business meaningful to you and to other stakeholders.

In my case, I realized that longtime employees remembered what my grandfather's company used to stand for, and were discouraged by many of the firm's more recent practices. Employees were lying to customers, and everyone behaved like they were on a losing team.

When I met one of the firm's retired former workers, he recalled how my grandfather insisted on not increasing roofing prices after Hurricane Hazel in 1954. That story spoke to me, so I shared it at a company meeting.

Other employees stood up and told similar stories. At the end of the meeting, we agreed that whatever happened, we would always do the right thing, even if that meant lower profits. We would never lie to a customer and always admit if we couldn't deliver what a client wanted.

That was a turning point for the company. Our employees felt they could be authentic, and it guided the company going forward and contributed to our growth.

Don't be afraid to take the business in a new direction from what your parents did

Family businesses can be slow to change because holding on to traditions or long-term relationships with employees and customers is valuable. Parents leading a family business may expect their children to join and follow in their footsteps.

But the average business today only lasts around 10 years. Families that try to get the next generation to follow the mold are at risk. The next generation may not be fully engaged, and the business may not be able to keep up with the times.

My advice is to find your own shoes and lead the business forward.

In my case, what was obvious about my family company was that it was a not very good business, and poorly positioned in a declining market. Our customer base was shrinking, our equipment was old, and employees hadn't been given raises for five years. We had six facilities in multiple states, most piling up with old products.

As I took over, we decided to change the company's model entirely. Instead of delivering in bulk to lots of customers in a large area, we focused on a small area of clients and delivered smaller shipments quickly. Eventually, we had enough money to buy one new machine, and we built on that success from there.

Don't try to live up to someone else's leadership style.

In family businesses, leaders can shape their own leadership style. Understand how others have led the business in the past, but don't be limited by that.

I was a young woman running a business in a male-dominated construction materials business. All leaders in the business, not just positions like the CEO, were men. Many managers' approaches were more authoritarian, with harsh language and aggressive stances.

I wasn't comfortable with that, but it was my family's business, so I could experiment with different ways to lead. I tried to be more calm and curious.

Finding my own leadership style, rather than trying to live up to someone else's, made me a more effective and genuine leader.

• Eight former SpaceX employees are suing the company and Elon Musk.
• They say they were fired after speaking up about a hostile work environment.
• The lawsuit alleges Musk treated women as "sexual objects" and used lewd banter.

Eight former SpaceX employees have sued the company and its CEO, Elon Musk, alleging they were wrongfully fired for speaking out against a hostile work environment in 2022.

The suit, filed in California, notes employees wrote an open letter to SpaceX management about their concerns. Musk then personally ordered their terminations, the suit alleges.

The complaint alleges Musk "runs his company in the dark ages — treating women as sexual objects to be evaluated on their bra size, bombarding the workplace with lewd sexual banter, and offering the reprise to those who challenge the 'Animal House' environment that if they don't like it they can seek employment elsewhere."

The lawsuit accuses Musk and other upper management of appearing in a video that made light of sexual misconduct, which was screened at an employee holiday party.

One scene shows VP of human resources Brian Bjelde "having an employee demonstrate how to spank him in the 'correct' manner," according to the suit.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

"Filing this suit marks an important milestone in our quest for justice, for holding leadership accountable, and for implementing responsible changes in workplace policies," one of the plaintiffs, Paige Holland-Thielen, said in a statement.

The lawsuit accuses SpaceX of creating a hostile work environment, retaliation, failure to prevent harassment, gender discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, and wrongful termination.

The same group of former SpaceX employee previously filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging they were targeted for retaliation.

But that case has been tied up after SpaceX sued the agency and said its enforcement processes violated the US Constitution. In May, an appeals court granted Musk's firm a temporary block that keeps the NLRB from pursuing its case.

Separately, the Wall Street Journal published a report on Wednesday alleging Musk had inappropriate interactions with female SpaceX employees, including a sexual relationship with a former intern.

The refreshed allegations of sexual misconduct come at a complicated time for Musk. On Thursday, Tesla shareholders will vote on Musk's contentious $55 billion pay package, potentially handing the billionaire a massive boost in wealth.

• The Houthis struck a commercial vessel with an uncrewed surface vessel on Wednesday.
• It's the first time the rebels have scored a hit with a USV amid their ongoing Red Sea attacks.
• Past attempts have been unsuccessful.

The Houthis used an uncrewed surface vessel to strike a commercial ship in the Red Sea on Wednesday, the US military revealed.

The Iran-backed rebels have employed USVs, also known as naval drones or drone boats, as part of their attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, but they have been unable to actually score a hit with one until now.

The likely explosive-laden vessel struck the M/V Tutor, a Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier, US Central Command said, noting in its statement on the incident that "the impact of the USV caused severe flooding and damage to the engine room."

Prior to the release of the CENTCOM statement, United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, an element of the British Royal Navy, posted an incident bulletin earlier on Wednesday saying that a "small craft" had hit a vessel off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea. It described the craft as white in color and between 5-7 meters (16-23 feet) in length.

The UKMTO later said that the vessel is "taking on water, and not under command of the crew." In a follow-on update, it said the ship reported being hit "for a second time by an unknown airborne projectile," and "military authorities are assisting."

The current status of the vessel that was hit is unclear.

One official at the Ambrey maritime security firm told The War Zone, which first reported on the incident, that the Tutor is a "dead ship" and will require "salvage operations."

The Houthis have employed USVs in years past, although it wasn't until earlier this year that the rebels actually began using the drones as part of their monthslong attacks on shipping lanes.

Wednesday's attack marks the first successful strike by a Houthi USV during the campaign. Prior to this incident, the drone boats were either destroyed by Western forces, or they were detonated in the water without hitting anything.

Beyond USVs, the Houthis have relied on their sizeable arsenal of anti-ship ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, as well as various one-way attack drones, to wreak havoc off the coast of Yemen. Since the fall, the rebels have used these weapons to hit a number of commercial vessels. It has sunk one and killed crew members on another.

Over the weekend, the Houthis hit two commercial vessels in the Gulf of Aden with anti-ship missiles. In both incidents, however, the vessels managed to continue underway. The Tutor is the latest attack.

The string of attacks comes after the Pentagon recently extended the deployment of the US Navy carrier strike group that's been battling the Houthis, as American intelligence officials warn that the conflict may go on for a while.

• CEO Tim Cook said Apple Intelligence may reduce iPhone usage in an interview with Marques Brownlee.
• Cook said he believes AI will help people complete previously time-consuming tasks in less time. 
• Apple unveiled a number of new AI features for iPhones, iPads, and Macs at its annual WWDC event.

There's a good chance Apple's new AI updates may result in you spending less time on your device.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said it's a "significant possibility" that people use their iPhones less with Apple Intelligence, according to an interview with tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee released Wednesday.

The CEO said as Apple Intelligence continues to get smarter, previously time-consuming tasks may take less time.

The tech giant announced it will integrate AI into its systems at Apple's WWDC event on Monday. The CEO and other executives detailed a number of AI features that will be available on Apple devices with its latest software.

Some of the updates include a new and improved Siri with better language understanding and text capabilities, integration across apps, systemwide Writing Tools, and a revamped Photos app that organizes photos into different categories.

Apple also announced its partnership with OpenAI, which will allow users to opt into a ChatGPT-powered Siri. The AI chatbot is known to help people be more productive and get tasks done quicker.

Cook added that Apple has never been motivated to have people spend their lives on their devices. The CEO has made similar comments before, saying that people need to focus more on the people in the room with them.

"Our model is not one that needs engagement to succeed," Cook said in the interview. "Our model is one that where we want to empower you to be able to do things that you couldn't do otherwise."

Apple has added several features to the iPhone that raise awareness of how much time consumers spend on their devices and which help make their usage more intentional.

Features like Screen Time track how much time you spend on your iPhone and put it "a bit in your face," Cook said. The CEO said last year in an interview with GQ that he monitors his Screen Time "religiously." The CEO also mentioned Focus settings, which allow consumers to silence their phones or only receive specific notifications.

Cook said Apple is homed in on giving consumers tools to do "incredible things" that they couldn't do otherwise.

"That's what motivates us," Cook said.

Apple did not return a request for comment.

• Henrik Fisker's second automotive startup is on the brink of bankruptcy.
• It was pitched as a Tesla rival, but workers say mismanagement and cutting corners led to compounding problems.
• Business Insider spoke with 27 former and current Fisker staff that charted the startup's downfall.

Fisker's staff was in chaos as they prepared to deliver the company's first batch of electric cars to US customers.

It had been four years since famed automotive designer Henrik Fisker unveiled his Tesla rival, an SUV called the Ocean, and the vehicle still wasn't ready.

In the weeks leading up to the big June 2023 event, Fisker staff raced to fix faulty parts on at least four of the 22 EVs that were set to be delivered — even stripping parts off the CEO and CFO's personal cars to repair the vehicles, including door handles and seat sensors, according to 11 sources familiar with the incident.

Two days later, Fisker board member Wendy Gruel's Ocean SUV, one of the cars that had been delivered at the event, shut off on a public road while going full speed, five sources said. Later, the same thing happened to Geeta Gupta-Fisker, Henrik's wife and the company's CFO and COO, workers said.

A Fisker spokesperson denied that workers used parts from pre-production vehicles for customer cars and said Gruel's car didn't stop on a public road. The company said Gupta-Fisker's vehicle had malfunctioned, but the issue was resolved.

When TechCrunch previously reported the incident with Gruel's car, the publication said the company had confirmed the incident and said the issue was fixed.

The issue was unrelated to Fisker's part swapping, but one thing was clear: the electric cars had barely hit the road and already the problems were piling up.

Henrik Fisker's EV startup seemed to be an easy sell at first. The 60-year-old automotive veteran boasts a long history in the industry, known for being the designer behind the Aston Martin V8, the BMW Z8 roadster that famously appeared in a 1999 James Bond film, and helping design Tesla's Model S.

Even though it was Henrik's second automotive startup after his first company went out of business in 2013, some workers told Business Insider that it was easy to dismiss worries early on that his second company could meet the same fate.

For his part, Henrik said he planned to do things differently this time. He would follow Apple's model by outsourcing production through Magna International and he also aimed to target the middle of the market with a more affordable EV option that could compete with Tesla's best-selling Model Y. Fisker Inc emerged in 2016 and went public in 2020 via a SPAC backed by Apollo Global Management. At one point, the company's market value soared as high as $8 billion.

At the time, Fisker was one of several EV startups to burst onto the scene — Rivian, Lucid, and Lordstown all wanted the chance to compete with Tesla. Since then, production and market headwinds have pushed some EV startups to shutter and major players like Ford and GM to scale back their electric-vehicle operations. Even Tesla has struggled, seeing revenue decline and layoffs.

"I was hopeful at first," one former VP, who worked at both Fisker startups, said. "Initially, at least, it seemed like he'd learned from his mistakes. It became obvious later on that they hadn't."

A Fisker spokesperson said it would be "unfair" to compare the two companies.

Today, the company is fighting for its life, pulling out all the stops in an effort to avoid bankruptcy.

Business Insider spoke with over two dozen current and former Fisker employees who worked at the startup during various periods from its launch in 2016 to the present. The workers, whose identities are known to BI, requested anonymity as they were not authorized to comment on Fisker's behalf and feared professional reprisal.

A husband and wife duo who workers say mismanaged their way into a mess

Many of Fisker's woes can be traced back to the husband-wife duo that launched the brand, multiple former and current workers told BI.

They described a disorganized environment in which unqualified people were brought in to lead major programs and basic automotive standards were ignored.

While Henrik often served as a figurehead, Gupta-Fisker was heavily involved in everyday decisions, including on the engineering side, 11 workers said. Prior to taking on the role of CFO and COO at Fisker, Gupta-Fisker had served as an investment manager for the Fisker family office and as an advisor at a nonprofit. She had no prior experience in the automotive industry. But at Fisker, the workers said she managed deals with Magna and outside parts suppliers, frequently popped into engineering meetings, and weighed in on everything from parts purchases to software decisions.

A spokesperson for Magna declined to comment on Fisker. A Fisker spokesperson denied comments that Henrik took on a more passive role and said he was "deeply involved."

49-year-old Gupta-Fisker quickly became known in the company for her shrewd cost-cutting abilities. But, her strategy meant that at times Fisker ended up using components that didn't match the correct specifications for the Ocean, five former and current workers said. Gupta-Fisker made several decisions to use cheaper parts against Fisker executive and Magana executives' advice, two workers said. The mismatches led to issues with over-the-air updates, the five workers said.

The company said Magna oversaw the majority of parts sourcing and a "significant" amount of the parts came from Magna and its suppliers.

In conversations with BI, staff blamed many of the Ocean's faults on the cost-cutting efforts.

Several workers said that in the months leading up to the vehicle's launch, they filed internal reports recommending that the product undergo further testing and development before its release. They said they were told the company planned to proceed anyway.

"The focus was on getting the car to market as soon as possible," one former worker said. "The overarching belief was we could fix things with updates later on."

A Fisker spokesperson said Magna was responsible for testing and releasing the Ocean and it had been fully certified by regulators in the US and Europe. The company has been sending out over-the-air updates since 2023, the company said.

Ahead of the release, Fisker engineers were aware of multiple issues with the vehicle, according to five current and former workers, as well as internal documents viewed by Business Insider. Engineers had identified issues with the effectiveness of the car's door handles, key fobs, and seat sensors.

Over the past year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched four investigations into Fisker's SUV, including issues with inadvertent braking and flaws in the vehicle's door latch system. The company said it is cooperating with NHTSA.

Fisker has also faced dozens of lemon law lawsuits.

Cutting corners led to compounding issues

In its haste to bring the car to market, Fisker failed to set up an effective system for processing repair orders and warranty claims, seven current and former workers said. Technicians were tasked with filling out the work orders and many of them said they hadn't been trained on the process.

In lieu of a working warranty system, some workers began processing the repairs without the proper California Bureau of Automotive Repair codes and EPA license numbers, using "123456" as a placeholder on a number of repairs, according to an internal document viewed by BI. In March, a VP at Fisker warned the issue made the company non-compliant with NHTSA protocols and unable to properly track and report safety concerns.

A Fisker spokesperson said the issue was "an internal error with only draft work orders early in the service process that was immediately corrected."

Without a proper system to process warranties or repair orders, the majority of repairs went unaccounted for, seven current and former workers said. That meant there wasn't an adequate way for Fisker to keep track of which parts were being used for repairs for its own financial records. It also meant many customers did not get a record of their repairs, workers said.

Meanwhile, Fisker also struggled to find the necessary parts for all of the fixes. The company hadn't set up much inventory for aftersales parts, so some of the parts used for customer fixes either came directly off the factory line, meaning they were meant for production vehicles, or the parts were stripped off pre-production and production vehicles, 11 workers with knowledge of the issue said.

In one instance, Fisker stripped parts off an engineering test vehicle that had been shipped from Magna's facility in Graz, Austria under an import bond, according to three former workers and emails viewed by BI. The vehicle was supposed to be destroyed in its entirety shortly after it was delivered to comply with the terms of the import. This is typically within a year, according to NHTSA, but the period can be extended in one-year increments up to 3 years. The vehicle's parts were not intended to be used for customers' cars.

The company denied any test vehicles had been used for parts and said all vehicles that had been imported for testing were destroyed under NHTSA's supervision within the allotted time period.

The spokesperson also denied that Fisker had a shortage of after-sales parts: "The Service department made its own forecast for parts, based on their sector knowledge. The Purchasing department supported those requests."

Fisker staff also looked for clever ways to address the parts shortage. In some instances, workers who visited Graz were told by managers to bring parts back in their suitcases to avoid paying import fees, seven workers said. One worker recalled having to leave personal belongings behind to fit air vents and key fobs into their luggage; another said they packed a larger bag to fit trim panels.

Fisker declined to comment on the claims.

A sales scramble amid negative reviews and vanishing demand

Fisker was initially successful in generating interest in the Ocean, with over 65,000 reservations initially placed.

But in the year since the Ocean's release, the company has delivered around 7,000 vehicles, a Fisker spokesperson said. Negative reviews — including YouTuber MKBHD calling it the "worst care I've ever reviewed" — took a toll on the brand, driving thousands of would-be customers to cancel their reservations.

In November, Fisker moved to bring in hiring recruiters to help sell the vehicle, as well as orchestrate the delivery of the car after the sale had been processed, six former workers said. In many cases, the recruiters, who had initially been brought onto the human resources team, had zero experience in automotive sales.

A Fisker spokesperson said that recruiting staff did join the sales efforts, though the company said they were asked to stay because they were successful in the new role.

Selling the car wasn't easy either. The recruiters found themselves directly competing with the company's established sales team and there weren't enough leads to go around. Four former workers said Fisker's reservation numbers included many duplicate names in its count and it was difficult to track which customers had connected with a sales worker. As a result, some people on the reservation list would find themselves getting multiple calls per day from different Fisker representatives.

At one point, sales workers were instructed to target customers who had canceled their orders and pepper them with calls in an attempt to get them to reverse their decision, three former workers said.

Fisker also began hosting pop-up events to boost sales, including events in partnership with fan blog Fiskerati, two former employees told BI. The events varied from meetups at Panera parking lots to larger-scale test drive events. In at least one instance, the event was shut down after Fisker failed to get permission from the owner of the location, the two sources said. Queues of Fisker owners that needed repairs also showed up at the events, three former workers said. Fisker told BI that the event hosted at Panera was not a company event.

"Sometimes it was hard to sell the cars when you'd take someone on a test drive and any number of error messages would pop up," one former worker from sales said. "As time went on and it became clear the writing was on the wall, we became even more honest with the customers on the risk," they added.

Fisker said it was aware of the ADAS issues but it was fixed with an update.

Meanwhile, some customers who'd canceled their orders and never paid for the car ended up mistakenly receiving delivery of the vehicle anyway, four former workers said. Former Fisker Ocean owner Kurt Mechling told BI he received delivery of the vehicle before he'd signed off on the order or had his payment successfully processed.

In March, TechCrunch reported that Fisker temporarily "lost track of millions of dollars in customer payments" for multiple months. Four workers with knowledge of the issue confirmed to BI the incident involving misplaced payments occurred.

When the carmaker conducted an internal audit in December over the issue, workers began scrambling to find the missing payments and bring some of the vehicles that had been mistakenly delivered back, the workers said. Some workers were encouraged by upper management to threaten the customers by saying they'd put them on a repossession list which could impact their credit score, the former workers said.

A Fisker spokesperson said the company had an "organized process" to address issues with vehicles that had not been paid for that was in line with industry standards.

Facing the threat of a repeat bankruptcy

Over the past year, Fisker has dropped prices by as much as $24,000 for some versions of the vehicle.

The company warned in March that it might go out of business within the year. The stock was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in April after it fell to 9 cents per share. Fisker warned staff in an April filing that they will be laid off if the company can't find a buyer or additional investor. The company brought in a chief restructuring officer who was given "sole authority" over some financial matters, including a potential sale, as part of an agreement with one of its investors.

Layoffs have stripped the staff to the bone. Its workforce is now less than 100 people, according to two sources with knowledge of the issue. Many of the workers who remain are involved in last-ditch efforts to offload Fisker's remaining inventory, the people said.

The company said it does not have less than 100 workers left and continues to sell vehicles in the US and in Europe. It declined to specify how many workers remained.

Meanwhile, workers have been dissatisfied with what they view as Henrik and Gupta-Fisker's inability to take accountability for their actions. A Fisker spokesperson pushed back on the comments questioning Henrik's business prowess.

"I think it's a story of ego. He wanted to make a car and stamp his name on it. Henrik is a great designer, but he doesn't have the business acumen beyond that," an individual who worked with Henrik at several companies, including his first automotive startup. "The lessons he should have learned from the first startup were never implemented and he rushed a car to market once again."

For Henrik, finding a buyer or cash infusion could partially salvage a reputation that has taken a hit over the past six months. Without a rescue, the automotive veteran faces the prospect of a nightmare scenario: back-to-back bankruptcies.

June 12, 2024: Added clarification that NHTSA requires temporarily imported vehicles to be destroyed within 3 years and that Fisker said it had done so within the allotted time period.

Do you work for an EV company like Fisker or Tesla? Reach out to the reporter from a non-work email and device at gkay@businessinsider.com or 248-894-6012.