Patriarch Approves Accounts Until Death

"Ruben’s patriarchal disposition meant that it was not until the mid-seventies that his son Hans could take over as the real power holder in Tetra Pak and start running the company almost entirely independently. But Ruben still dominated him to some extent – no major decisions were made without consulting Ruben. Until his death, it was Ruben who ultimately decided what applied. His last action within Tetra Pak was to approve the financial statements – this happened the day before he died."

"Meanwhile, Hans had to deal with his father, who was the working chairman of the board for both Tetra Pak and Åkerlund & Rausing. He had great respect for both him and Holger, but most of all for his very determined father. Hans did nothing without first getting his father’s approval. In fact, both he and Gad were much more dominated by Ruben than any outsider could guess. Neither of them made any decisions without first consulting Ruben’s opinion."

"The situation was not entirely easy for Hans and Gad. Both were young, insecure, and inexperienced, and were perceived by the seasoned businessmen that Ruben had previously brought in as “daddy’s boys”. Moreover, they were very strictly held – and dominated – by Ruben. Other employees had first had to prove their competence before they were promoted to leading positions. No one had gotten a job on the basis of their name. And many of them had warned Ruben against placing the boys in leadership positions. These warnings had not primarily come because people wanted to protect their own careers, but rather out of concern for Gad and Hans. It was clear that they would not be taken seriously unless they had first earned their spurs elsewhere. But the stubborn Ruben didn’t want to listen to the advice. For him, it was most important that the boys were quickly schooled so that they later could take over his role. It was also important for him that they got leading positions since the only chance he had to socialize with them was through work. Thus, they constantly talked about various problems and solutions within the business. This would not be possible if the boys were given subordinate positions. Then, other employees would immediately react and probably loudly oppose the fact that their subordinates – Hans and Gad – had greater influence than they did as managers. Therefore, there was only one solution for Ruben: to make the sons CEO and Vice CEO respectively."