Shifting the paradigm on family business successions

Many family business succession plans don’t work — a harsh reality. 

It’s not that they can’t work. I’ve helped dozens of clients implement a successful succession plan in my decades as a family business consultant. The issue is the “plan” part of succession plan. Oftentimes, there really isn’t one outside of the “Mary will take over when I retire in 5 years” variety. 

There are a variety of unforeseen forces that make this type of plan fall flat on its face. Perhaps the biggest is the failure of the younger generation leader to gain the trust of the family, the employees and clients. But that’s not just a younger generation problem, it’s an everyone-involved problem. Here are some reasons why trust is hard to come by: