Handing on a business you built is one of the hardest decisions an owner makes. This is a guide to help you think it through, at your own pace.
It's a set of questions about you, your business, and whoever leads it next. They rarely have quick answers, and they shift as the business does. This guide is where to start.
We built it as a short workbook we use in our succession workshops with owners across the region. It works best out loud, with the people closest to you and the business.
All three chapters and the closing exercise in one booklet. Work through it on your own schedule, with your family, team, or advisors. Nothing to sign up for.
Download the workbook (PDF)The same guide, delivered a piece at a time over four weeks. Each email carries a question or two.
Your values, your legacy, your decision. What a good transition looks like to you, and what you'd want the next leader to understand about the path you've walked.
What the business needs to keep going after you. What would break first if you stepped away tomorrow, and who holds the relationships that keep it running.
The person who steps into your shoes. Who has shown the capacity to lead, what's hardest to hand off, and what they'll need to grow into the role.
The last week is a single exercise: imagine the headlines written about your company five years after you hand it on, in the version that went well and the version that didn't.
We work directly with a small number of businesses on the harder parts of a transition: aligning incentives, building leadership depth, and weighing ownership options, including employee ownership. If that's where you are, leave your email and we'll reach out to talk.