A listening path · 8 conversations
A founder letting go
Handing over a business you built is rarely about the price or the paperwork. These conversations start with what the work gives a founder beyond the money and end with the decision most plans leave out. I've put them in the order I'd listen to them.
Mike Boyd
34Denise LoganWork, Money & Meaning: How to Let Go When the Time Comes
Start underneath the plan, with the question Denise Logan asks every owner: what does work give you beyond the money?
Listen for If you stepped back tomorrow, what would you miss that has nothing to do with money?
42Bradley J FrancIncrease the Value and Maintain the Values
A succession plan that starts with 'you are here', and a next role for the senior generation, because nobody lets go of one vine without another to grab.
Listen for Do your will, your agreements and your wishes all point in the same direction?
19Jim Warner & Paul WarnerSuccessfully Navigating Multi-Generational Family Dynamics
A father and son on the stalemate where the elders wait to be asked and the rising generation waits to be told.
Listen for In your family, who is waiting for whom to speak first?
14Crystal LamSecond Generation Vietnamese-American Business Woman
Crystal Lam took over the firefighting at Vinawood and left her father the work that lights him up, with a coach in the room to hold them both to account.
Listen for Which part of the work could the founder keep because it still lights them up?
31Juan Carlos SalameScaling a Third Generation Ecuadorian Retailer & Credit Provider
Juan Carlos Salame left his family's business twice, and came back the third time on two conditions, including reporting to the board instead of his father.
Listen for What would a successor need in place to report to a board rather than to a parent?
33Julie CharlesteinThe First Woman & 4th Generation Charlestein to Lead Premier Dental
A clean handover at Premier Dental: ownership and leadership moved together, in writing, and her father is involved only when she asks.
Listen for After the handover, who decides when the previous leader gets involved?
17Dato’ Loy Teik NganFrom Billionaire's Son to Losing it All and Starting Over
Dato' Loy Teik Ngan rebuilt after the 1998 Asian crisis, and one adviser's question moved him out of running the business.
Listen for Do you want to be rich, or do you want to be king?
43Joe PohlenCaring for Elders & Why it's Important to Have Daughters
End with the decision most plans leave out: what happens when I start slipping, and who has the right to say so.
Listen for Have you decided, while you're well, who gets to tell you it's time?
Other places to start
The Business Family Diagnostic · Succession
Every handover starts with the person handing over.
In these conversations, letting go keeps coming back to having somewhere to go next. Does the current leader in your family have a plan for their own next chapter?
“The family has talked openly about when leadership will pass on.”