Does Your Family Business Have a Succession Plan?

When a family business assumes that the next generation can simply take over where mom or dad left off without pausing to consider the CEO job description, governance, or the evolving business context, they may be setting themselves up to fail. Families have broken up, reputations have been lost, and businesses have collapsed because the generation in control did not consider how to set the next generation up for success. Just as a business must reinvent itself as markets shift, so must a business family reinvent (or at least thoughtfully revisit and refresh) its ownership and leadership model. Seek to understand the changing players and dynamics so that you have better context for what your business, family, and owners need in the future.