Our Business Succession Consultants
I’ve always resisted the term ‘consultant.’ Maybe it’s because the old joke pops into my mind that a consultant is the person who removes the watch from your wrist and tells you the time. When I had to pick a title for myself 30 years ago, I gravitated away from consultant and chose Strategist & […]
Family Business Governance: The Dinner Table vs. The Board Table
In our last post, we asked you to consider two forms of business governance: formal and informal. As transition strategists, see the huge advantages of formal business governance, especially in family businesses and especially before transitions begin. In this article, we approach the topic from a different perspective and ask you to consider the two […]
Why Bother with Family Business Governance?
Business governance isn’t a topic that excites most business owners until something happens that makes them wish theirs had it. As transition strategists, however, governance excites us because it is a critical element in the success of a business as it is transitioned from one generation to the next. In this article, we look at […]
Our Answers to The Big 6™ Succession Planning Questions
One of the tools we use to help business owners organize their transitions out of their companies and onto their Next Adventures™ is The Big 6™. An owner’s answers to these six questions create a compass that guides them as they progress in their transition journeys. We’ve written about these questions and how they relate […]
A Father-Daughter Family Succession Case Study
It’s my life’s work to help business owners create transitions out of their companies that meet their most important goals, keep their relationships intact and position their companies to succeed under new leadership. That’s a tall order, and no transition is as perfect as owners envision because, more often than not, one of their goals […]
Use Your Succession Plan to Keep Your Promises
I’ve written in this blog about communication during business transitions. Productive dialogue between owners and successors, owners and spouses and owners and key stakeholders isn’t easy but it’s a requirement for successful transitions. In this post, I will describe how you can use your succession plan to keep your promises. Effective Communication From long experience, […]
Three Rules of Engagement for Successor Development in Succession Planning
In The Dance of Business Successor Development, we described the three phases of teaching and mentoring successors. In Phase 1, owners lead, and successors follow. In Phase 2, owners and successors alternate the lead, and in Phase 3, successors lead, and owners follow. The trickiest part of the dance is Phase 2 because when successors […]
The Dance of Business Successor Development
When was the last time you thought about how you do what you do to make your company successful? If you are like most owners, the answer is “I don’t think about how I do what I do. I just do it.” Part of succession planning, however, involves teaching a successor to do what you […]
Succession Planning Process: Six Questions Business Owners Must Answer
Have you ever imagined that the transition out of your business could be the capstone of your career as a successful owner? Or do you think of the succession planning process only as contingency planning for your retirement? For a moment, consider the possibility that business succession planning can lay the groundwork for your next adventure and ongoing success of your business […]