ABOUT THE BOOK

Succession and the Family Business provides a proven road map to help you, your business and your family plan your business succession road trip. You may envision your family business lasting for generations after you’re gone, but did you know that only 30% of family businesses survive the transition to the second generation, or that the average lifespan of a family firm is just 28 years? Why? Because businesses hit predictable potholes along the way resulting from a lack of succession planning.

The reality is that your business will undergo an ownership transition-whether you plan for it or not. Wouldn’t you rather be in control of the process?

You may be afraid that discussing the transition or sale of your business will cause conflict in both your family and your business. But failing to plan is sure to cause conflict-along with frustration, resentment and erosion of the business you’ve worked so hard to build. Family relationships can also be destroyed in the process.

In Succession and the Family Business, family business advisor John S. Geddes draws on more than 20 years of experience to provide “driving tips” you can use to steer clear of the potholes and pave your road to business succession with gold.

The navigation skills presented will help all members of any family business understand and manage the transition process and deal with the soft issues that consume 80% of your time in your planning.

Succession planning is often avoided because family owners do not know where to start or what to do once they have started. 80% of succession issues are the “soft” issues, with 20% representing the legal, accounting, tax and insurance work that is needed when succession planning is started. This is the easy part. The hard part is the personal, family and business dynamics at play in a family business. 95% of businesses do not do have a written plan for their business, let alone a succession plan.

This book provides a number of tips and techniques to help the owner/manager and the family begin to plan the succession of the business in a step by step way.