HBO’s Succession is a Perfect Exit Planning Exercise for Business Owners
Season three of HBO’s Succession started this week. The writing is superb, and there is something magnetic to watch people destroy each other using their basest passions, avarice, and fear.
At the end of Season Two, Kendall Roy shows his father Logan the “killer” instinct by throwing him under the bus instead of being the blood sacrifice for the wrongdoing in Waystar Royco’s cruise division. He implicates his father on live television in his typical treacherous fashion. Season Three starts with the betrayal continuing as each family member jockeys for position and figures out which side they will take.
As a Certified Exit Planning Advisor, I watch this show using a different lens because of my training. Most business owners believe it is essential to have a transition strategy, but almost 50% have not done any planning. Worse, nearly 85% don’t’ have a written plan.
Half of all business exits result from one of the five “D’s”:
Death
Divorce
Disability
Disagreement
Distress
One of the main benefits of having an effective exit plan is to control how and when you exit. When you clarify your transition choices, it includes communicating with management and family members, which can be different than selling to a third party.
Human capital is a family’s most significant wealth. Spiritual capital ensures the value system the family embraces stays intact. Challenges a family can address before a transition occurs include:
· Creating a common vision
· Agreeing to a communication framework
· Preparing for conflict around sensitive issues
· Addressing ambivalence around succession or sale
· Staying profitable through change.
With interpersonal clarity and a strong family dynamic, the business value acceleration process becomes easier to discover value, prepare the plans, and then decide how to move forward.
Family business transitions are complex. We have the strategies and tools to create a collaborative environment during a critical stage in a family’s life and business operations.
