From Preservation to Value Creation: Adam Hill on Preparing Successors the Right Way

Is your family business trying so hard to protect the “golden egg” that you’re starving the next generation of the chance to build something bigger? 

Adam Hill—4th-gen leader, CEPA, and Professional EOS Implementer—joins Elizabeth to talk candidly about stepping into leadership, nearly facing insolvency, and using EOS to professionalize a legacy company. They unpack the identity shift for founders, why communication is the next-gen’s superpower, and how to move teams out of “artificial harmony” into healthy conflict that actually solves problems. If you’re eyeing a transition in the next 3–5 years, or you’re a rising successor who wants to do it right, this one’s a masterclass. 

Top Takeaways 

• The legacy trap: when “preserve what we have” replaces “create new value.” 

• Right person, right seat: how EOS de-personalizes family dynamics and professionalizes decision-making. 

• Communication beats assumption: what next-gen leaders must say out loud (even when it’s scary). 

• From harmony to health: naming and exiting “artificial harmony” to resolve real issues. 

• Professionalizing for transition: strengthen the five capitals (financial, human, structural, social, customer) to raise enterprise value and multiples. 
• Founder identity shift: why planning “what’s next for me” reduces resistance to letting go. 

 

Chapters in this episode:

00:01 – Welcome & Guest Setup: Adam’s credentials and why EOS matters now. 
01:32 – Origin Story: Great-grandfather’s 1923 launch; growing up in the “family business bubble.” 
04:27 – Inside the Company: Roles across lab, safety, ops, sales; building customer service. 
05:32 – The Cousins’ Era: Governance complexity and 60 family owners. 
07:52 – What Is Legacy, Really?: From value creation to preservation. 
10:07 – Why So Many Fail: Preparation gaps and successor readiness. 
11:29 – Entitlement vs. Preparation: “Right person, right seat” and structured mentorship. 
13:24 – Founder Identity & Letting Go: Planning “what’s next” to enable transition. 
15:27 – The #1 Next-Gen Mistake: Under-communicating. 
17:11 – How to Speak Up: Curiosity, outside mentors, and peer groups. 
18:40 – Conflict That Heals: Escaping “artificial harmony.” 
21:22 – EOS in Practice: From near-insolvency to disciplined execution; the five capitals. 
24:12 – Closing: Final thoughts and gratitude. 

Connect with Adam Hill: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adamchill 

Fearless Family Business Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5K0guqNH7IpkKf0qkxByn9?si=087d5de0d30c4df9 

EOS Implementer Profile / Contact: https://www.eosworldwide.com/adam-hill 

Connect with Elizabeth Ledoux and the Transition Strategists: 

Website: https://transitionstrategists.com/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetransitionstrategists 
Elizabeth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethledoux/ 
Transition Strategists on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/transitionstrategists/ 
Transition Strategists on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@transitionstrategists 

Subscribe to “The Business Transition Roadmap with Elizabeth Ledoux” on your favorite podcast player: 

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3MxSYA2 
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3IhMMux 

Get Elizabeth Ledoux and Laura Chiesman’s latest book, “It’s A Journey: The MUST-HAVE Roadmap to Successful Succession Planning”: https://amzn.to/3oq2LQv

 

From Preservation to Value Creation: Adam Hill on Preparing Successors the Right Way Transcript

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Well, it’s great to be back with you all today at our Business Transition Roadmap podcast. And today we are going to be talking to Adam Hill. He is a wonderful guest. I’m so excited that he’s on with us today. He is a family business visionary. He’s a professional EOS implementer and EOS is really growing in the market right now. I know so many business owners that are using that and it’s so powerful. He’s a certified exit planning advisor. He’s also a best-selling author and he hosts his own podcast called the Fearless Family Business Podcast. One unique thing about Adam is that he has taken his own fourth generation company from kind of like a uh-oh to a wow. Big change there. Now what he does is he helps business owners protect their legacy and grow healthier companies so that they are ready for a great transition. Adam, also being an Ironman person as well and doing some dad jokes. Welcome to our show today and thanks for being here.

Adam Hill:
Thank you, Elizabeth. I’m really grateful for the opportunity to be here and share some time with you.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Nice. So how about, why don’t we start out with you telling us a little bit about your story and kind of how you got to be doing what you’re doing now.

Adam Hill:
Yeah, happy to. my story really begins, I guess, long before I was born. I was born into a generational family business that was started by my great grandfather back in 1923. An interesting story about that. He started Hill Brothers Chemical Company with his brother in Los Angeles, California, back in the 20s when there was about a population of about 100,000 people there at the time. And about six months later, two other brothers, about three or four blocks up the road from us, started their business. And they were Roy and Walt Disney. we were kind of cousins in the same area growing up in a family business world. And they did OK for themselves, as I understand it. But it was kind of an interesting story that they were there. yeah, so that was a neat story. So over the course of decades,

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah.

Adam Hill:
They pass my great grandfather passed it on to his kids and they passed it on to their kids. And by the time I came onto the scene, it was just a thriving third generation at the time family business that was really, really thriving at the time. And I remember going to company picnics every summer and that just became part of the bubble that I was in. It was just living in a bubble of family business that that was almost the sacred thing that existed for us that could never go away because it was taking care of all of us. that’s kind of what started my thought pattern towards being attached to this family ideal of keeping that legacy going on.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah, that’s incredible. So how did you end up then getting from the family picnic to actually being involved in the business and then what happened?

Adam Hill:
Yeah, so I think through high school and college, you know, I never really anticipated that I would join the family business. I had dreams of my own, you know, to do other things and went to college in Santa Barbara and just kind of planned to go out into the world. But, you my dad had talked to me in my senior year of college as I was approaching the good getting out into the workforce. And this was around the dot com bust. So there wasn’t a lot of opportunity for jobs at the time. And we were entering into a recession and all that. I came in and worked for the family business and started out in a role in our lab, helping out with some quality control. And yeah, that really kind of began my work in the family business. over the next 15 years or so, I

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah.

Adam Hill:
worked in a variety of roles and, you know, went over to safety, went into operations, went into sales and then ultimately built a customer service department. And so I got to kind of see what all of the inner workings of the family business were when I was working in it. And so the idea of kind of keeping this legacy going as we approached our hundredth anniversary was really inspiring to me. And I kind of, you know, it was kind of becoming more of a gravity was kind of bringing me in more towards leadership and running the company ultimately. And then I took over in 2018 as the CEO and that’s kind of where I started to see a lot of the chaos that existed and you see a lot of the dysfunction and challenges that really exist underneath the surface. So that started kind of the next phase of the development, was a really challenging time for me.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah, so when you came in, did you take over for like your dad? Was he in that CEO role and then you kind of transitioned in?

Adam Hill:
He was, yeah. So he had sat in the CEO role for about 25 years. And he was part of what we would call the cousins generation. He was the third generation leader. So lots of cousins working in the business. And I would say right, it was right about when he was in that business that we peaked with regards to family members working in the business. You know, I think at that time, we probably had maybe a couple of dozen family members working in the business at the time in a variety of roles and

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Wow.

Adam Hill:
By the time we got into fourth generation, though, we didn’t have a ton of interest in terms of other second cousins getting in there. And you started to kind of see a little bit of the writing on the wall with regard to how our ownership was structured generationally down the line, where we were starting to get people that were more on the periphery of the family business who owned it but didn’t necessarily want to be involved. And so we started to taper off with involvement in the business. And by the time we get into the fourth generation, there was about 60 family member owners outside of the business. And yeah, a lot of different ideas on how the company should run.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Wow. Yeah, and isn’t it interesting how the family can go from just a couple of people involved to having 60 owners. That’s incredible. And then the governance and the decision making and all the other things change so much as the family grows and it grows so fast.

Adam Hill:
Yeah. Right. Absolutely. And I see that from the perspective of where a lot of founders don’t get to see that perspective because the founder of a business is a business that they may want to feel like they want it to last generations for their family. They don’t see the outlook of what happens if they just kind of pass it on equally throughout the next few generations and how that dilution of say ownership of that asset without any kind of planning or thought process can really negatively impact that long-term legacy.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Absolutely. So yeah, I have so many questions for you, but why don’t we talk a little bit about what you see and what you’ve experienced as what legacy is? Because we talk about that. such an interesting word.

Adam Hill:
Yeah, I agree. It’s kind of loaded in for however many people are on the planet, we probably have as many definitions for legacy. And my specific perspective on it really does come from somebody who was more on the receiving end of a legacy that was started. I like to put myself in my great grandfather’s shoes when he started the business and had this idea of supporting his family, all really good intentions of building this generational legacy.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah.

Adam Hill:
which he did. But I think where what I’ve seen and what I’ve seen happen with the idea of legacy is it shifts somewhere down the line generationally from this idea of creating something of real value and continuing to expand on that value and growing this value so that it becomes more valuable in the world. And we’re creating more value into the world to something that we want to protect and preserve. And then legacy suddenly becomes about preservation and not value creation. And so that’s what I kind of see along in a lot of the conversations around legacy is, is it’s around how do we preserve what we’ve created? Not about how do we prepare the next generation or launch the next generation to be successful and create their own value. I think that second part is more important to legacy than the first, in my opinion.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I would agree with that. And always think in your mind of when you don’t have a lot, you’re creating value and growing and growing and growing. And as soon as you get this golden egg, this thing, you start to try to figure out how to protect it. And then when you’re handing it off to the next generation, it’s like, here’s the golden egg. Don’t break it. Don’t hurt it.

Adam Hill:
Right.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
It’s just beautiful the way it is knowing that really the job for this next generation is to take that golden egg and expand it and make it bigger and shift and change the value because otherwise lots of businesses tend to not do well and they tend to not be able to support the expanding family.

Adam Hill:
Yeah, yeah, I mean, we see a lot of that in a lot of the statistics. you know, I think the idea that something like 70% don’t make it past the second generation in the family business, 90% don’t make it past the third. And those are some of I feel like those are consistently why even though, you know, the jury still out as to exactly why every, you know, that many families fail after so long, but I tend to feel it’s this idea that people are not especially the next generation. And I felt that way jumping in as a fourth generation leader when I did.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah.

Well, that’s really interesting because for years I’ve been doing this a long time. For years, I’ve had a belief that the reason why the businesses fail is because the owner, current owner, transitioner, if you want to call it that, hasn’t given enough time, wisdom, knowledge, mentorship to the successor. In a family business, there’s almost the assumption that for instance for you, you were in the business, you worked your way up, you went all the way through the entire company, built out a complete department, somehow by osmosis, you were supposed to know how to run the entire company and take it forward well. It’s like magic.

Adam Hill:
Right. Yeah. Yeah. It’s right. Yeah. It’s just, yeah, you’re supposed to kind of learn by that way. And, I, know, in what I’ve learned since kind of like, kind of studying that a little bit more, I’ve, I’ve realized that there, I feel like there’s a, a lot of different dynamics in at play in there. Yes. I think that there’s this idea, there’s the idea, I think that certainly existed in our family business that, you know, we don’t, we, see that, you know, entitlement, could be a very bad thing in a family business. And we don’t want to let those kids know they’re entitled. So we’re not going to give them a leg up, which means that in a lot of ways, we don’t focus on trying to get them prepared. They have to figure it out for themselves to prove their place. And so I’d hear a lot of things like, well, wait your turn or pay your dues or all this kind of stuff where it was just kind of like, there wasn’t a lot of thought put into that. And that’s a lot of the reason why I became so attracted to systems like EOS, because it kind of took that

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah.

Adam Hill:
that emotional aspect off the table and it puts structure behind it. Where if there’s a place in the business for a family member that there’s a seat there, that it’s a legitimate seat that they need and that the person that’s filling that seat has the talent to do so, right person, right seats. Well then you’re playing the game like a business or you’re treating the business like a business and really kind of helping that to support the broader family but. But that kind of that allows that space for preparation to occur. And I think another dynamic too about that is that there may be, especially within that ownership generation would have seen a lot of, especially with regard to exit planning or, or selling a business or, or transitioning into the next generation. You know, there’s a, there’s an identity that’s associated with that owner, with the business. They don’t want to, you know, a lot of times when they’re getting ready, they might not want to let go. and they might not know what’s next. So they need that planning for their own personal planning to know what’s next for me before I transition this and as I prepare the next generation.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
That’s right.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that’s 100%. You and I are so aligned on that topic. Just because, and we just did a purposeful planning institute, a breakout session for probably about 50 advisors that were in the room and talked to them about this program that we call Metamorphosis. And it literally was just a, it’s what metamorphosis does a successor go through. And what does a transition go through? Because everybody’s changing at the same time. And we’re talking about when you’re going through that metamorphosis as a transition or wealth creator owner, you’re going through a shift in vision and who owns it and who is it yours or is it somebody else’s? There’s a shift in power. There’s a shift in relationships. There’s a shift in just knowledge and you being the center stage.

Adam Hill:
Mm-hmm.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
You getting to be, we call it the magician, right? Because if I’m that, I’m the one who fixes everything. And it’s kind of, again, magical that I can do that and I’m able. So yeah, really interesting.

Adam Hill:
Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. It’s, it’s a, mean, it’s one of those, I think I can see the perspectives of all parties, but I think that’s why it’s so important that we do the work that we do here, which is to help create that space for preparation, you know, draw out the timeline, stick to it, set the milestones, accountability, all of that will help play into how we prepare the next generation to lead and own that business.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Absolutely, absolutely. So okay, question for you. What do you think is the biggest mistake next generation leaders make when they’re planning their transition? What’s that biggest mistake?

Adam Hill:
Yeah, so I feel like it all roots back to communication. And this is much the responsibility of the next generation as it is the previous generation to communicate. Though it may be at times scary because now you’re still talking to the previous leaders. You’re sharing, but I think it’s really important as the next gen leader, especially if you’re certain or you know that the plan is to include you in that, to communicate where you’re not prepared, where you need the help, where you need that plan and that support. And I think the reason it can be scary too at times is because you may get the sense or you may get this feeling that maybe the previous generation thinks you’re presuming something or that you’re somehow feeling that entitlement or something like that, something you don’t want to do. So you tend to shy away from saying something like that. But I always tend to believe, especially in retrospect, hindsight being 20-20, always over communicate and talk openly about it so you can get clarity on how that process is going to go. And clarity always leads to a smoother transition.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Absolutely. So if you’re an incoming person, the incoming generation, and you’re talking to the what would be next generation going out, and you run into something like that, where that older generation is feeling like you might be coming in as entitled or pushing or those kinds of things, how do you get around that?

Adam Hill:
Yeah, it’s not easy. I mean, because a lot of times, it really depends on the dynamic of, of that relationship. And how wide the family is, like, if there’s a lot of different family involved in everything like that. But I think the first thing is just to just to approach the question or approach the previous generation with curiosity, you know, instead of asking, you know, what’s in it for me kinds of questions, maybe ask, Well, can you tell me how, you know, things that you specifically don’t know, just ask for clarification on those things, how it works, so that you’re not necessarily injecting yourself into that. And I think the second thing is, is if you feel like you’re not getting a lot of guidance from within necessarily, which is an important mentorship to have, I think that another important element of mentorship to get is from outside. Outside coaches or perspectives or groups are super helpful. And fortunately, there are family business associations around the country, usually associated with academia that you can go into, find a group that is similar to you, somebody that that that are a group that can relate to what you’re going through. And you can find that mentorship and that cohort sometimes through those groups. And, you know, they’re not limited to these family business associations, but there’s other groups around the country that you can tap into that can help get you that coaching support you need. so I would, I would start there and get that curiosity and lead with curiosity and try to get there. Another thing I’ll say is, is regarding conflict, especially within family, there’s really two types of conflict that exists within family businesses. And this comes from something called the conflict continuum by Patrick Lincione, who he described, you know, that on one side of this continuum, there’s mean spirited conflict, where you’re basically just like, throwing insults at each other, all this kind of that’s like one side of the conflict spectrum. But the other side is where many and I would say most family businesses lie, which is with within artificial harmony. And this is where we try to maintain this level of harmony and not going into the conflict, not going into the danger, avoiding all conflict at all costs because conflict is bad. And so we just try to maintain that harmony. But in reality, in both those situations, they’re equally toxic because now we’re really suppressing the deep issues that we need to solve. so finding that middle place where you can have that healthy, constructive conflict is super important. And I think that starts with curiosity. It’s frankly, resolving those issues, whether it’s led by the previous generation or the next generation, you need to dig into them. You need to dig into them with humility, curiosity, and with a desire to really, really solve the issue. Put the issue in front of you, not between you. That’s what’s going to kind of preserve the business. And always focus on the greater good.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah, that is so well said and that’s such good advice for everybody to keep in mind. Yeah, keeping the issue in front of you as a collective group instead of between you, that’s big. So yeah, thank you so much for that. yeah, so we’re really close on our time and our time has gone so fast. I can’t believe it. If you were to, well, I have one more question before we stop. You are a professional EOS implementer. And I am a huge fan of EOS in the companies that we work with. The ones that have EOS are so much more structured and organized than those that don’t. And I know that that plays a role into the transition. So how do you see that EOS really working and helping them to prepare?

Adam Hill: 
Yeah, I fell in love with EOS because when I jumped into that role as CEO, I mentioned I saw a lot of the chaos and the dysfunction. We were losing money at the time. My second year as the CEO, we were nearly insolvent on the verge of bankruptcy. And on a wing and a prayer, I discovered traction through a mastermind group that I was a part of and read the book in a weekend and on a wing and a prayer hired our implementer, Richard Price to come into the business and help us out. And it wasn’t an overnight success, but the transformation that we saw in our business was really profound. And as a leader of the organization, as somebody who was sitting in the visionary and integrator seat before EOS, I felt a lot of weight on my shoulders as somebody who was responsible for the entire family’s livelihood. And as somebody who felt that the relationships within my family had become transactional when I jumped into that role. And what EOS did was it gave us that structure to take that weight off of my shoulders and allow this system as we operated with accountability and discipline and focus to really drive the goals and the decision making that we didn’t in our business. And we just started to perform so much better. We began to make needle moving decisions. And I think as it relates to family businesses, I think it was built for family businesses. Not only did Gina Wickman who created it, start within his own family business. But I mean, I think just the idea of how it can help professionalize a family business is vitally important. Then as far as the transition is concerned, whether you’re going to transition it to the next generation or you’re going to sell it, there’s so much importance on the idea of transferring a valuable asset, something that has inherent value to it.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah.

Adam Hill:
And that means more than just the financial statements. That means more than just your profit and your bottom line. It means really, really strengthening the additional capital that you have in your business, like your human capital, your structural capital, your social capital and your customer capital. And EOS does all of that. And what that helps to do is it actually helps to make you a more attractive company for strategic buyers, which will potentially buy you at a higher multiple ideally, but you’re ultimately going to have a higher multiple within your business if you strengthen all of those capitals, all five capital sources. And that really allows you to transition, even if you transition in the next generation, because you’re giving them a stable platform on which to build rather than giving them something that’s chaotic that they have to transform themselves.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Absolutely. Well, gosh, I know we are at our time, maybe a little bit past. I just want to say thank you. Thank you for being here, Adam, with us today and just for sharing very openly all of your insights and knowledge in this area. Really appreciate you and all the work that you’re doing to help these family businesses transition well and also to gain a foundation from which they can learn and grow and evolve. So yeah.

Adam Hill:
The pleasure was all mine. Thank you so much, Elizabeth, for having me on. Yeah, you too. Thank you.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
It was fun. Be well.

 

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