A staggering 70 percent of family enterprises fail to pass to the second generation, and 88 percent fail to make it to the third. Too many family matriarchs and patriarchs refuse to answer the question “who comes after me?”—ignoring the reality of their own mortality, or falling into the delusion that they’re the only possible leader for the business they built and led. Regardless of the reason why, when a family enterprise fails to plan for leadership succession, they’re not protecting their legacy—they’re doing more to destroy it than any competitor ever could.
Thoughts from a more-than-occasional writer
