We Just Keep Moving Forward

When we set out three years ago this month we knew it would be a challenge to engage our community in a new business membership organization.  There are so many other excellent programs going on; but we knew it would be worth it.  Three years later as we enter our fourth year we can feel our efforts, energies and imagination paying off.   

Therefore I will continue to push our message out to our local and surrounding communities.  Hopefully one of my messages will spark a flame to a family business leader and a new member will emerge.

Recently we had Robert Nason speak at our next generation roundtable regarding the research he did on the longevity of family businesses.  The research seemed to center on the well documented and repeated statistic of “only” 30% of family businesses succeed to the second generation.  In reality the word only was most likely added by consultants and advisors.   The statistic was actually intended to state that family businesses actually outperform other business models.   However planning and preparation is needed and a trusted advisor among so many other components is necessary. 

How many times do you hear your advisor talk to you about your succession plan..  “Lets get started….when are you going to talk about this…..who is your next leader…more and more questions.  But how do you get started?  Where do you start?  Maybe before you start succession planning some basic questions need to be answered.  If you are the founder…When did you decide this was a family business?  Why did you decide it was going to stay a family business?  Etc. and so on.  To help answer these questions a good place to start would be education.  As I read through blogs, message boards, articles, research papers it all comes back to educating the family businesses before, during and after the planning starts and continues.  It is difficult to start work on your succession plan if you are not properly prepared for it.

Here is today’s message - Storytelling…. a great way to learn about family business.  We do that at our center.   We have forums where our attendees and presenters tell their stories, their experiences, there challenges and their successes.  Of course we have educators and consultants and advisors that help us get our educational message out there but we are here to help educate you and help you find your way to preparation, planning, and being one of the many family businesses that succeed to the next generation.

We look forward to meeting you.

-Donna