Articles
When the Boomers Retire, Will You Sink or Swim? — Part 3
"You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there." – Unknown "View life as a continuous learning experience." – Denis Waitley For the last several months, I’ve been talking about the tidal wave heading toward the shores of American business. The Baby Boom generation is reaching retirement age and more than 20 million workers – including the executive management team in many businesses -- will retire in the next eight to ten years. In order to survive, organizations must be prepared for the inevitable leadership transitions ahead. My previous two articles covered pre-transition planning and how to [...]
When the Boomers Retire, Will You Sink or Swim? — Part 2
"Our only security is our ability to change." – John Lilly As I said in last week's article, there’s a tidal wave heading toward the shores of American business. The Baby Boom generation is reaching retirement age and more than 20 million workers – including the executive management team in many businesses -- will retire in the next eight to ten years. This impending management shake-up will be especially dire for small- and mid-sized businesses. Organizations that are not prepared are likely to be washed away when this tidal wave hits. Last month I talked about pre-transition planning: evaluating the [...]
Do You Really Think Junior Can Run This Business?
"Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy." – Robert A. Heinlein "We can really respect a man only if he doesn’t always look out for himself." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe One of the most challenging issues for family owned businesses has to do with the succession of a son or daughter as the leader of the company. The American dream of starting a business, building it into a thriving enterprise and passing the mantle of leadership down to the next generation is strongly ingrained in our culture. In fact, we almost assume that Junior will take over [...]
Whatever Happened to All the Businesses? Success is in the Succession.
"Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now." – Alan Lakein Have you noticed how frequently businesses come and go? You buy a product or service from a good local company for years. Then you hear that the company has gone out of business. Someone else starts up a company and takes over the business, but after a few years the cycle repeats itself. We see this phenomenon in all industries. It isn’t that there’s no business. Even in these difficult economic times, individuals and organizations need essential products and services. [...]
Why Company Culture Counts
"Culture is the set of beliefs, values, and norms, together with symbols like dramatized events and personalities, that represents the unique character of an organization, and provides the context for action in it and by it." – Gareth Morgan "Leadership defined by "To lead is not to influence others to do something they are not committed to, but rather to nurture a culture that motivates and even excites individuals to do what is required for the benefit of all." – Arthur F Carmazzi This is a test: Describe your company’s culture in one sentence. If you’re hemming and hawing right [...]
When Business Conflict Becomes Family Conflict
"Family life! The United Nations is child’s play compared to the tugs and splits and need to understand and forgive in any family." – Mary Sarton In a recent article I talked about how the strengths and weaknesses of individual family members affect the overall success of the business. The converse is also true: the changing fortunes of the business can also affect the family. There’s no question that building a successful business can bring family members closer together and strengthen family bonds. It is equally true that problems in the business can create discord in the family. I recently worked [...]