Family Matters

Like the children of many a successful parent, David Lauren, the second of Ralph and Ricky's three children, set out to carve a career for himself in a field other than his father's. Like many a child of a successful entrepreneur, he is often asked whether or not he'll end up running the company. Like any sane executive, he won't say.

David, 30, now senior vice president of advertising, marketing and corporate communications at Ralph Lauren Media, had every intention of going his own way. "I never wanted to work for my father," he says. So while...