Honouring the efforts of the past requires a stepping forward into the future. But often the past and future simply can’t see eye to eye.
The legacy of any business lies in its future success. The greatest legacy is to see your business grow to much greater heights after the current stewards step away. Why is this a great legacy? Because it means that the current leadership put in place the foundations for the business to grow. It is just as much a recognition of their efforts as it is of the new leadership team that came in.
But no business can continue to be successful on old formulas.
Markets change, customer needs change, technology advances and competitors get stronger. This is the reality and as a new generation of leaders begin to emerge they will bring with them new ways of doing things. The challenge becomes one of the existing leadership releasing their hold sufficiently to allow the new team to try different approaches and to test themselves out. And for that new team to accept that maybe they don’t know everything and that they will have to find a little (sometimes a lot) of patience as they lobby for change.
If the existing leaders can’t release their hold, the business will die with them. If the existing leaders do not allow the new team to try and fail in a controlled environment, then they multiply their risk 100-fold. But the new team must accept that there does exist a wisdom in the experience that the current leaders have. They have probably failed and learnt many more times than they will ever tell you. You want to learn from their experience and failures as best you can, so let them make you wait longer than you want, while all the time nudging them to move forward.
The old ways must allow the future a doorway to enter, and the future needs to find the patience for the door to be opened. Without both, succession will falter and likely fail.
Active Knowledge Question:
How well is your business embracing change and upskilling the new generation through experience?
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All the best in the success of your business,
Richard Shrapnel
