What is 'The Successor's Voice'?

The Successor’s Voice: Support and guidance ‘for successors, by a successor to a family-in-business’.  

I believe that the well-managed and well-structured development of family talent will result in a better outcome for individual successors and for the family enterprise.  The aim of the Successor’s Voice is to address issues of relevance to successors as they anticipate their own development, foster family ownership and contribute to leadership.

My goal is to change your perspective - how you understand, interpret, anticipate or manage a given situation. From this all follows. Where do you start? How do you move forward? What should you consider? To whom should you speak? What do you need? Who has done this before? Is now the best time to act? Questions that centre on the individual, that introduce (or face up to) tension where ‘solutions’ are seldom perfect as they allow for all elements of the ’system’ in which the successor is located and from which they cannot (usually) break away. 

We know that the answers to family business issues are seldom clear, often complex and usually counterintuitive. To prompt fresh thinking I hope to encourage successors discover what they want for themselves, decide on what they need to do and contribute where they will be most effective. 

You own it

As successors we have to manage the reality of ownership even as we negotiate relationships, decide on careers and learn fundamentals. At times this 'impact of ownership' acts as hindrance, as obstacle to clarity of thought and as a brake to action.

Looking back on my experience in a number of family business roles, my most difficult of times was when I felt that certain things were happening, or not happening and I felt powerless to control them let alone influence what may happen next. At times such as these I either froze or worse - ducked out to avoid facing the problem.

I am reminded of the philosopher Kierkegaard's story of the traveller in the hill country who came to a village only to find his road onward blocked by a mountain. So he sat and waited for the mountain to move. Years later he was still there, old now and white haired, still waiting. When he died he was long remembered in the village as a proverb, 'the man who waited for the mountain to move'.

Kierkegaard's point is that God - or someone else (possibly your relatives) - do not move mountains, we do. As a successor you own the solution, have agency to initiate action and own the solution. In short, you move it. 

The Successor’s Voice column is intended to act as this spur to action, the prompt you need to face up to a difficult conversation, decision or action. My ideas, examples or sentiment are primarily intended to help, as a push to a plan or just a 'glimmer' of what could be possible. Drawn from my experience of being a successor, a member of a family-in-business, manager, Director, Council member and father. 

What counts?

What will the Successor’s Voice include? What topics will feature? First, content will cover those issues associated with ownership of a family business. Second, ideas and suggestions for the effective development of a business strategy. Third, guidance on managing key relationships and effective personal decision-making all within the context of ownership. 

The aim - I think - will be to acknowledge and strengthen those things which preserve continuity, while identifying and introducing relevant challenge to stimulate progress. The trick for you as successor and effective owner is to anticipate, encourage and implement both.

As a base, I will highlight and draw out those fundamentals of family business continuity such as values, purpose, governance, family ownership and leadership. Things that usually (though not always) need time to flourish. With this, clarity of perspective demands an appreciation and attention to change: of the business in response to market demands; of the family as it works towards a hopeful consensus and finally - most important of all - of the individual successor as you manage a career and decide on contribution. 

The constant is change; the trick is to anticipate and manage likely change to family, business and ownership while attending to what we (as successors) need to accomplish. From this, the prompt to action, a challenge to take a decision, new insight towards the taking of an unpopular (but necessary) stance or 'food for thought' as trigger towards a new perspective.

Where relevant I will bring myself to my writing: my experience, observations of other families-in-business, lessons included in my book or just plain common sense and knowledge. Examples may be disguised, but all cited example should be taken as founded in fact.

Not straight to perfect

Self-awareness is vital for individual growth. Significant growth can occur over a short period or as a result of a setback. This is how we learn. A guiding principle of mine is that successors only believe what they discover for themselves. As a successor, you do not go ‘straight-to-perfect’ on account  of your surname. First, you must let your forename do the talking (and the walking) as you discover for yourself. This is at the heart of credibility. 

My aim with this column is to help you in that discovery, to provide guidance on how you decide on what to do next and encouragement (and watch-outs) as you contribute to the continuity of your family business. I have no intention to foist my beliefs on others, or to propose a singular course of action to any situation. As a mentor, my role is to hold up a mirror to those with whom I work. My intent is to do the same here - it will be up to you to decide as to relevancy of any content, and to take it forward as you alone see fit to do. 

In doing this I encourage your comments, suggestions and challenge to the ideas published here. Use the contact Email (or DM me on LinkedIn) on the website for questions, suggestions or other views. If you feel you have something worthy of a full 800 word post, let me know and I will give it time.   

The well-structured, well planned development of family talent must enable successors to plan and negotiate their relationship with the family business, their seniors and themselves; it needs to explore, capture and give voice to relevant perceptions and experience unique to the position of successor within a like-minded community; finally it should inform, coach and challenge successor's to families-in-business. 

In your reading this column, if I can actively help you achieve awareness of your situation and encourage you to say in plain language what you want for yourself – to find and hold your own voice – together we will have achieved a great deal. 

Your first step - if not taken already - is to recognise your part by not waiting for the mountain to move. In the words of M.K Ghandi, 'You must be the change you want to see in the world’. As successor you have both the position and agency. Once you have accepted this, it is what you do next that counts: my aim is to help you on that path.