When business owners start thinking about what comes next for their companies, the conversation often jumps straight to selling. Brokers, valuations, letters of intent. And for some owners, a third-party sale is the right path. But for many of the owners we work with, selling to an outsider was never part of the vision. They built their companies with their families, their communities and their employees in mind. The idea of handing the keys to a stranger, even a well-funded one, feels like a contradiction of everything they worked to create. These owners want
We recently sat down with Marcy McNeal, one of our transition guides and a certified social and emotional intelligence coach, to talk about something that shows up in nearly every family business we work with: conflict. Not the dramatic, door-slamming kind that makes for good television. The quieter kind. The kind that sits in the space between a parent who built a company from scratch and a successor who is trying hard to earn a seat at a table that has always belonged to someone else. https://youtu.be/YgqVU_n_Iro Marcy brought a
I talk to a lot of families and business owners who tell me, “I know I should be thinking about transition, but I’m just not ready yet.” And every time I think, of course you’re not ready. Humans don’t leave something comfortable unless we believe there’s something better waiting ahead for us. And it’s not weakness that causes that. It’s just our normal human wiring. Our brains, our emotions, even our habits. They’re all designed to keep us safe and to stay in what’s familiar. We operate our lives, if
If you own a private or family business, you’ve probably thought about the future of your company more than once. You may have wondered who will lead it after you, how the transition will unfold, and what your own life will look like on the other side. These are big questions, and they deserve more than a passing thought on a Sunday evening. For 30 years, we’ve walked hundreds of business owners through the journey of transitioning ownership from one generation to the next. Our Transition Roadmap Developer Process™️ has
Transition is a journey, not an event. I say that often because I mean it. When it becomes an event, it tends to catch everyone off guard, even when a plan technically exists. And what I see most often is that the plan was built around the business and the wealth, with very little thought given to the people who are supposed to carry it forward. I’ve seen plenty of transitions that looked complete on paper. The ownership structure was figured out. Someone had thought through the what-ifs. And yet
We get asked a lot about what it means to be responsible. Gosh, what a big word. Especially when you’re leading a business or guiding a family through a transition. For most of the owners I work with, the word “responsible” sits right next to a quiet fear. They’ve built something meaningful. They provide for their people and protect what they’ve created. And somewhere along the way, they make a decision (sometimes out loud, more often just in the back of their head or their heart) that they’ve done their
When John Arnolfo called me a couple of years ago, he had just sold the Silver Grill Cafe in Old Town Fort Collins, a restaurant he’d stewarded for more than four decades. The Silver Grill, which has been open since 1933, is one of those places that becomes part of a town’s identity. Famous for its cinnamon rolls, its warmth, and its history, it had grown from one small building to five buildings and over 200 seats under John’s watch. He thought he was ready. He’d even started planning for
I get this question a lot. Sometimes it comes from a business owner who’s heard the term but isn’t quite sure what it means in practice. Sometimes it comes from someone who already has an attorney, a CPA, and a financial advisor lined up — and they’re genuinely wondering what on earth they’d need another professional for. Both are fair questions. And the answer is this: a business transition consultant isn’t meant to replace any of those people. We work alongside them. What we focus on is something that often
If you’ve been thinking about transitioning your business but keep putting it off, you’re not alone. Most owners don’t avoid transition because it’s complicated. They avoid it because it feels final. Heavy. Like the beginning of an ending they’re not ready for. And once that feeling sets in, next year has a way of becoming five years down the road. That’s something I’ve seen over 30 years of working with business owners and their families. It’s also why I sat down to record this solo episode: to offer a different
