Succession Planning Obstacles in Family-owned BusinessesWritten by Don A. Schwerzler and David Jones
Succession Planning Obstacles in Family BusinessesJust like a physical obstacle course, succession planning for family businesses is like an obstacle course. You have to find obstacles, then overcome them... fly over them, dig under them, outflank them to move around them. And it is often ones that you didn't see that cause you biggest problems! Every family and family business situation is different, so there is no one "master map" because there are no fixed or defined obstructions. However, certain things do tend to appear frequently, so we've compiled our checklist of frequent obstacles. If you look for and deal with these, you will have greatly improved your chances for successful succession. A note about terminology: we have used "Dad" to identify a founder or retiring owner. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Important Note About This Checklist! The goal is not to determine whether particular obstacles are true or not... ...If point is perceived to be true or present, then it IS an obstacle that has to be dealt with. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Founder or Retiring Owner First, and most importantly, Dad must believe his financial security is assured. Without this perception, there is a major obstacle and probability of Dad leaving business "voluntarily" is significantly reduced. What is Dad going to do with time and energy he had committed to business? Obviously Dad must be able to envision a positive, productive and meaningful existence away from business. Without having something to "move to" Dad likely will not "move from"... Will transition diminish Dad's self- esteem and negatively impact his self- concept? Very often in our society, "who we are" is generally described by "what we do". With regard to kids, most perplexing problem for Dad is how can he be both FAIR and EQUAL. As a parent, Dad's instincts are to try and be equal to all his children. That is to say, he does not want to show any partiality to any one child. Yet as a businessman, he knows business can not be run well by a committee of his heirs. It is more logical to select one of children to lead company into future. Both facets of this issue produce ample opportunities for Dad to procrastinate or to avoid dealing with entire concept of succession planning.
| | Are You a Corporate Doughnut or a 5 AM Doughnut?Written by Susan Dunn, MA Clinical Psychology, The EQ Coach
My friend Adam takes his daughter on a doughnut run every Sunday morning. His favorite store is called “5 AM Doughnuts.” Adam always goes out door chuckling "I love it. 'When do you open?' (5 am) 'What do you sell?’ (doughnuts).”Adam is an entrepreneur and as part of his integrity and authenticity he patronizes only locally-owned stores. As a business owner, he also admires name of this store so much, he tells me about it every time. I must admit, it’s stuck with me as well. That’s exactly and all I need to know about my doughnut store and big sign popping out as I go by on highway has been helpful. (Like I need help finding doughnuts.) Now, what’s a “corporate doughnut”? That would be a doughnut store that’s a franchise, ultimately owned by a corporation. And what do you get when you get a corporate doughnut? Exactly same thing every time. It’s highly predictable. In a Mississippi bayou or downtown Manhattan, you can pull into a McDonalds and know what you’ll get, which in some cases is definitely a relief. And which are YOU – a corporate doughnut or a 5 AM doughnut? If you’re a corporate doughnut, when we meet you, we recognize you as familiar; in fact we start to complete your sentences for you, because it isn’t “you” it’s program coming out.
|
