It’s your business, you founded it, you have worked 24/7 for the last 30 years and you have carried all the stresses of making it work. Everyone thinks you ‘love’ your work so much that there is nothing else to your life. Little do they understand, or appreciate, the sacrifices you have had to make. But they have enjoyed the benefits.
Now you are being asked to share your decisions with family members, to listen to their views, to surrender all that you have built. And why? Because they think your time is over.
Succession can be hard; it can be almost impossible at times. It’s not a journey you should make by yourself. But it can be and should be seen as the start of the next season of your life.
It is a matter of getting your head in the right space and crafting your future – an exciting future. After all your years of hard work, you, in fact, deserve it.
Succession represents taking your business to the next level.
You may be passing the business over to family members, you may be selling it out, or even putting a management team in to run it while you hold it as an asset. Whatever option you may go for, see this as the next step in your journey of growing the business.
The challenge is to get the business ready for the transition and make sure the new team are capable. It is your reward and legacy to see the business continue beyond you and to grow on the foundations you have laid. To be an amazing success.
You may still be involved in its management or you may not, but you want a clean transition and you must be stepping into the next season of your life with vigour and passion. This is what succession is about and how you view it is critical to its and your success. See it as an undermining of your years of work and you are in trouble.
See it as an opportunity to do even greater things and the doors will open and the possibilities will be exciting.
The way you think about succession will determine its outcome.
Active Knowledge Questions:
- How do you think about succession, positively or negatively?
- Is it your next cycle of growth or taking away what is yours?
- Is it a challenge that you can master and leverage to take your life to a new level?
Searching for the world’s best succession guide? Buy Transition – Orienteering The Five Lands of Succession.
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All the best in the success of your business,
Richard Shrapnel
