This is the House That YOU Built, Jack.

You built your empire from the ground up. That’s right: You are the pillar of strength for your organization, so what’s going to happen when it’s time to sell? How are you going to ensure that the structure of your organization not only stays standing but remains sturdy once your shoulders aren’t there to handle all the weight?

• Identify which of your employees are load-bearing.

Whether you are planning to sell your company to an outside owner, family member or key employee, your load-bearing employees are essential to maintaining the structural integrity and value of your business. How will the weight that you are carrying be distributed after you are gone? Who isn’t going to buckle under the pressure or bow with the passing of time?

• Keep them (even after you’re gone).

Offer incentives to load-bearing employees especially if you see the potential of passing on your torch to them in the future. Keeping them invested in the business as if it was theirs already, builds commitment and capacity.

Ingenious benefit incentives help to ensure that your exit strategy operates like a blueprint instead of a pipedream. Collaborate with your financial adviser to design benefit incentives that will motivate the growth of your employee’s loyalty to the organization and to their personal futures. Don’t give them a reason to seek another career opportunity. The longevity of your load-bearing employees will heavily influence the longevity, and ultimately the sales value of your organization.

You wouldn’t make a major change to the structure of your home without reaching out to an architect. Why would you make the biggest change your company will ever know without the help of an appropriate trusted advisor?

And if you need a recommendation on a financial service professional to help you identify incentive benefits, call me (Abby: 336.458.9939 or email: Abby@LeadershipLegacyGroup.com). As the founding chair of the Succession Planning Roundtable, credentialed financial services providers with expertise in succession and exit, I can help you find the right resource for your particular situation.

How are you retaining your load-bearing leaders?

Retiring Retirement

I’m just going to say it:

‘Retirement’ is a horrible way to brand “life after work”.

Who in their right mind wants to be associated with a word like retire when it hangs around with synonyms like: resign, quit, vacate, and retreat? Even if the idea of retirement had some grandeur back in the good ol’ days as 65 became the new 50 and leaders envisioned lifestyles that were devoid of worry and full of golf…somewhere along the way it lost its luster. Most business owners I know who are nearing traditional retirement age hear that word retirement now, and it conjures up thoughts of moth balls, rocking chairs, and ‘nursing homes’.

Its origin derives from the French word ‘retirer’: To draw back. At the end of a long and successful career, maybe you want to draw back, but not into moth balls and rocking chairs! We surely can do better than retire! I am calling for a re-brand! I want everyone to strive towards that next chapter in their life that will evoke a sense of pride, respect, and accomplishment. A time to enjoy the fruits of their labor -- the hero’s welcome from a career that was well fought for and won!

There will indeed come a day when we all will stop working, but we should never stop living because we have reached ‘a particular age.’ I assure you, it should be one of the most active and exciting times of our lives!

The only thing that needs to retire here is the word itself.

How do you define retirement?

Sell the Tree for Wood or Sit in Its Shade?

Pop Quiz!

Question #1:

When is the best time to plant a tree?

Answer:

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” 

I’ve got to hand it to you, Chinese Proverb! You nailed it!

But what about succession planning?

When is the best time to plant that seed?

Honestly, the best time to start is 3-5 years before a business owner is ready to sell. However, I have met a lot of business owners who perpetually remain  ‘3-5 years away from selling’.  In those cases, the only time to start is now…

or it will never happen.

It’s easy to fall into the pattern of belief that there is still time to ‘worry about that later.’I have seen businesses that waited too long to start succession planning and due to unforeseen circumstances they had to make rushed decisions because of one of the “Dreaded D’s”:  Death, Disease, or Divorce.

No matter why succession planning is done in a hurry, the end result is typically the same: the company sells for far less than it could be worth and it suffers culturally and financially in the aftermath of a poor leadership transition.

At a recent Succession Planning Roundtable presentation, Jed Dunn, partner with the Newport Board Group recently put it like this, “ Throwing a succession plan together at the last minute is like putting your football team together a week before the Super Bowl.”

Trust me, no one in their right mind is going to bet on that team.The opportunity cost of starting succession planning now far outweighs the cost of starting succession planning later. As H. Jackson Brown Jr. eloquently reminds us, “nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity.”

By planting your company’s succession seed now… it will have time to grow.  Its roots can start digging in so you can start branching out. Ensuring that you have a mature plan when the time comes to sell or pass on the reigns leaves you with two great options:

Sell the tree at a premium for it top quality wood, or sit in its shade and enjoy its fruit.The choice is yours.

Who will you recruit to be on your team now so you can win the super bowl of your business later?