Preserving a Father’s Legacy: Christina Wing and Ghassan Nuqul on the HBR Cold Call Podcast
How do you preserve a founder’s legacy while embracing the change required for a business to thrive into the next generation?
That was the question Christina Wing explored on the Cold Call podcast, where she joined host Brian Kenny and Ghassan Nuqul, Chairman of Fine Hygienic Holding and the protagonist of her Harvard Business School case, “Ghassan Nuqul and the Nuqul Group: Preserving a Father’s Legacy.”
The episode traces the extraordinary story of the Nuqul family—a story rooted in resilience. After being forced to flee Palestine in 1948, Elia Nuqul rebuilt his life in Jordan and went on to found Nuqul Group, one of the country’s most prominent family enterprises. His son, Ghassan, joined the business in 1985 and helped scale it from four companies to more than two dozen, while spearheading a difficult but necessary transition: separating ownership from management and professionalizing operations for long-term sustainability.
In the conversation, Christina and Ghassan reflect on what it means to honor a founder’s values without being beholden to the original business model. They talk openly about the weight of legacy, the emotional complexity of family governance, and the power of institutionalizing principles—not just operations—through tools like a family constitution.
As Christina notes in the episode, “Legacy doesn’t mean doing the same thing the same way forever. It means holding onto the integrity and values that built the business, even as the business itself evolves.”
For any family navigating generational transitions, this case offers a deeply human lens on strategic decision-making. It’s about family, business, and country—led with heart.
🎧 Listen to Christina’s and Ghassan’s conversation with HBR by clicking HERE.
