Surviving the Next Generation

Hi everybody, it's Mark C. Winters again. And today I'm talking to you family business owners out there. And the topic is succession planning and succession. So here's what we see in a typical family business. You've got multiple generations. And as the business moves from one generation to the next, we've noticed a pattern. And one of the patterns that we see is that family businesses often don't survive succession when there's not a visionary in that next generation. First generation, almost always there was a visionary that had the idea, that had the impulse to go out and start that business. And a lot of times, and maybe the next generation or the next generation, there's another visionary there that comes in and fills that role, fills that seat. But every once in a while you'll hit a generation when there just doesn't happen to be one. So if they don't have a visionary or maybe even an integrator in that next generation, we want you to know that maybe that business is destined to fail. Not good news to hear, but it's just the fact of the matter. And it's very difficult to go out into the world and hire a visionary. Here's why. Visionaries, because of the way they're wired, all the good stuff about them, typically they're not hirable. Now what you might be able to do is you might find another company out there that has a visionary in it, that's in your space and you can do a merger with them, you might acquire them, some kind of a deal like that that can bring a visionary into the mix, or any kind of a visionary that comes in under other circumstances. The thing that's important for you to realize is it's going to require an equity type of a deal. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to look in your family and see are one of your children a visionary. And really important. I want you to start thinking about this now. Think, think about who that next generation visionary is going to be for your business. Okay, so three key points to wrap this one up. Number one, we believe that a key to multi generational succession is to have a visionary in that next generation. Number two, we've seen mergers and acquisition with a visionary that actually worked. We do have cases for that. Number three, we've never seen a visionary just purely hired, but we have seen equity deals done and just absolutely important. Start thinking about it now. Thanks for watching. Today at Rocket Fuel Ventures, we're all about creating the most powerful visionary integrator duos on the planet. And we do that by helping you crystallize what it means to be a visionary and an integrator. So you can understand if that concept can help you, and if you decide it can, to get connected with with your complementary counterpart and then finally maximize that relationship to make it everything it can be to help you take your company to the next level. So if you want more Rocket Fuel, please check out our website@rocketfuelnow.com and that's where you can sign up for the weekly videos like this. Be sure you're getting these on a regular basis. You can also take the assessments so you can understand, as a visionary or as an integrator, where your strengths lie and what the shape is of your two piece puzzles that can help you find that complementary counterpart. And finally, of course, read the book Rocket Fuel and keep those great reviews coming. So until next time, go Rocket.