When Your Kid(s) Are Not Ready to Take Over Your Business…Yet.
If you’re wondering whether the child (or children) whom you are considering as a successor is ready to step into your shoes, you’re not alone. Business owners in the “I don’t think my kids are quite ready” group are joined by those who are convinced that their kids are absolutely not ready.
For a moment, let’s discuss the characteristics that the “best” successors share. As you read through this list, take a moment to think about your child as your successor.
- Do they have the ability to learn how to do what you do?
- Do they want to own/run their own business—yours?
- Is there alignment between their timetable and yours?
- Can they recognize new opportunities?
- Are they open to new challenges? Recognizing opportunities and meeting challenges require five entrepreneurial qualities. The ability to:
- Embrace new ideas.
- Tolerate uncertainty.
- Understand that “nothing goes as planned.”
- Act without fear of failure.
- Learn from their mistakes.
With that in mind, there are several realities to understand about your situation.
You are a parent.
Like all parents, you want your children to be happy and whole, and will do what you can to support them to be successful. “Doing what you can” is an important point to remember as we’ll see in a moment.
You are a business owner.
You have invested a lifetime into your business. Your talents and hard work—as well as those of your employees—are responsible for your company’s success. You are proud of the business you have built and want a successor who is able to build upon your success.
You have one head and two hats.
If you are considering a child as a future owner of your business, you are wearing at least two hats: parent and business owner. If your child has been working in the business for some period of time, you are well aware that:
- At times you wear your owner hat and at others, your parent hat. The trick is knowing when to wear each.
- Stepping into a conversation wearing the wrong hat is a mistake.
- Switching hats mid-conversation is more difficult than it might seem.
- It takes time and practice to know which hat to choose and practice helps but does not insure perfect.
You are human.
- Your relationships with those you love are important to you.
- You want to be as fair as you can to those important people.
- You make mistakes.
- You cannot predict the future.
With these facts as a foundation, let’s ask the big question: How do you hand over your business to a child who is not, or may not be, ready to run it successfully?
You don’t. Yet.
If a child is to be the happy, whole and successful person you want them to be and they are to be the successful next owner of your business, they should possess the five characteristics that we listed at the beginning of this article.
Consider just the first one: The ability to learn how to do what you do. Notice that the first characteristic is not the ability to do what you do; rather, it is the ability to learn how to do what you do. The distinction between the two is critically important because the second makes clear that both successor and owner must bring something to the table. Your successor brings the capacity to learn and so you bring the ability to teach.
Elizabeth Ledoux is a co-author of the award-winning It’s A Journey: The MUST-HAVE Roadmap to Successful Succession Planning, as well as Accelerate Your Entrepreneurial Flight and Understanding the Growth of the Entrepreneur. She frequently speaks to organizations and business owners about challenges and opportunities in private and family business transitions, business and individual growth, and the business succession journey.
