When preparing for a family business succession presentation I was giving recently, there was no way of avoiding the "death" topic. Isn't it funny how something we all know is inevitable creates such a feeling of being a taboo subject?
There are plenty of titles for this sort of work, such as estate planning, succession planning and exit strategies and, I know it is only semantics, but don't these titles fill us with fear and dread. Holy cow, we are mortal.
"I don't want to face that so let's procrastinate and things will sort themselves out once I'm gone." Sound familiar? I began to challenge my own feelings and position on this as I worked through the content of my presentation. So, from now on I am calling it "future proofing".
The concept of future proofing is not new, it is something that business owners have struggled with for years. And it would appear that we are very slow learners as a 2012 business survey concluded that only 10 per cent of businesses have a formal succession plan.
My presentation had three messages: make a start, understand that there is "no quick fix" and why do I need to start?