The Succession Planner

Welcome

I have created The Succession Planner as a business blog intended to provide thoughts and information about business succession strategies and resources for other CEOs, entrepreneurs, and small business owners as they (you) -

Plan for business succession (who will run my business when/if…)

Craft an exit strategy (how to get out of your business with enough money to live the way you want to, and allow the company to have/retain enough assets to survive, and prosper, too)

Consider what it really means to sell your business and all it entails

Navigate the merger and acquisition process (M & A, buying and selling companies)

Understand and Calculate business valuation (what is my business really worth?)

Establish a succession plan to enhance the value of the business prior to sale and support current lifestyle levels while waiting for the right deal

and even transition to retirement…or more often a move into your next venture with a life plan that works for you.

…all with an eye to helping you Get Results.

www.getresults.com

Succession Planning

Don't Let your Busines Fears Make you Feel Invisible

Studies I read and my own experience tell me the same thing - fewer than half of all companies have ownership succession plans. It happens in some very large companies and it happens in most small businesses. And, in fact, some business succession plans that exist are merely print exercises to allay the fears of share- and stake-holders, with the leader having no real intention to, or desire for, stepping down.

Is it fear of planning? Is it fear that by identifying successors in advance, they may try to force the leader out prematurely? Is developing an exit strategy merely a low priority?

Thirty years in the business tells me succession planning’s greatest inhibitor is the leader’s fear of becoming invisible - irrelevant! Not wanting to go - ever - is part of it. For many leaders, particularly founders, the entity (profit or nonprofit) is psychologically tied to their own self-worth. I feel this same fear in my small company - I want to do this forever, and know I can’t.

So many of us put succession off. We tell ourselves it won’t happen to us - YET! We tell ourselves, and our possible successors, they aren’t yet ready to assume control. We turn a blind eye to the importance of who, and what, comes next. WE know next, counts, but that’s for tomorrow.

Some of us have no plan for tomorrow and so the fear rises to the level of terror. What would we do if we didn’t come in to work?

I have a friend who I helped forge a second career as a professional director after his “corporate” days were done. His post-work plan called for serving on a few boards, playing tennis (and, as I recall, golf), traveling with his wife and family, kicking back a little and just savoring life. Two years into his plan, he was busier than ever with his board work, his games still wanting love and birdies, kicking back was not yet on the calendar, but, he was spending more quality time with his wife and family.

Like many Boomers, I struggle with the fear of becoming invisible, irrelevant. But I know that fear is like the childhood fear of monsters in the bedroom, I know better. I feel it, but I know better, and try to help others because if our ideas, our businesses, our legacies are to survive and prosper, it is a fear we must all overcome.

Is this fear standing in the way of a crafting a succession plan that works for you?

(C) 2009 John J Reddish

Exit Strategies

When it comes to succession planning and having exit strategies in place, a great many companies, their owners, and their key executives, are far from ready.  Some have well thought out plans and good documentation that cover both contingencies and eventualities.  Many of us can talk about who and what may come next but it’s all talk.  And a few of us are in denial.

What are some of the contingencies you need to prepare for?

• Your accidental death or that of a key employee
• Your accidental temporary disability or that of a key employee
• Your accidental permanent disability/incapacity (physical or mental) or that of a key employee
• You, or a key employee loses interest in the company, the profession, or in each other (few experts traditionally prepare for this contingency, but more are planning for it every day)
• Weariness (this is a condition I have discovered among entrepreneurs.  No matter how much you love your work, your company, and no matter how integrated it is with your ego, there come times when weariness just saps your energy.  Sometimes a good vacation cures weariness.  Sometimes it lasts a long time.)  A plan to protect the organization should be prepared for when you “aren’t there.”

What are the eventualities you need to prepare for?

• Retirement
• Life after work
• Death

Think about these contingencies and eventualities.  If you don’t have a written exit strategy/succession plan in place that covers these possibilities, you may be at more risk than you thought.  Buy yourself some peace of mind, put it in writing and let someone you trust know what and where it is. Simplest solution, hard copy this page and pencil in answers to the “what if’s.”  That will keep you until you can put together a more formal plan that covers all your risks.  Your succession consultant, lawyer, CPA and/or financial planner can all help.