Not many business owners take succession seriously until the situation presents itself, ready or not. In this story, I will relate my personal succession endeavors to the realities of the process and reveal my surprising discoveries. 

If you own a business that is successful, you have lots of good things happening.  You have a great product or service, dedicated employees and most important, loyal customers or clients. Not respecting success by ignoring your succession is a major disservice to all of these necessary constituents. 

Employees will wonder who’s on first if you can’t make it to work.  Clients will wonder who is going to carry on the business in the manner that they’ve come to love. And your family may be fearful of what happens to them personally and financially. 

Napier has had a written succession plan since our inception when many of you didn’t know anyone but me. Now, with our multiple partners (Alex, Rob, Tom Schulte, Tom Fletcher, Bill and Shaun… with other younger associates currently on the partner track), I’m happy to say that the succession plan is stronger than ever. 

Founders also wonder, what the heck will I do if I don’t have to check in every day? For some, it is pure pleasure…travel, golf, pickle ball, grandkids.  For others, it is a blend of these with some work sprinkled in. For me, the later route is working just great. 

For about 15 months, I have been chairman only for Napier and our other companies, and I couldn’t imagine anything more fulfilling. As Chairman and a significant shareholder of the companies, I get to see it all from a different perspective. Mentoring, frequent chats about strategy and direction and an occasional technical brain picking keep me as engaged and aware as I need.   

In fact, it appears as if I am developing a following of people just like me looking for guidance on how to complete their success by planning for their succession. My discoveries are: 

  • I love not having to sit in traffic every day heading to an office. 
  • I love the team that we’ve built and will do anything for them. 
  • I love the relationships that I’ve built with clients over the years, and how those relationships have morphed into fun, social and wisdom sharing.  
  • I love the idea of helping others through this process. 
  • I love the fact that my days are designed around doing what I love, and not what I have to do to succeed. 
  • It’s an ongoing experiment – I’m still playing around with ways to spend more time with family while Joan and I are between 1,800 and 3,000 miles away from each of them, and how to integrate my free-wheeling lifestyle into their normal lives building careers and raising families.  

Succession is not easy.  Feel welcome to drop me a line if you or someone you care about should think more about this next, important chapter.