Every business owner, whether planning to or not, will one day exit the business. It’s the single event in business that’s sure to happen. Preparing for succession will give your business an opportunity to thrive even after you leave it.
Finding someone capable of leading the company to greater heights after the founder exits is key to making a business sustainable. Any founder of a successful enterprise looking to find the right successor will want to consider this five-point plan, based on the leadership acronym SWEAT.
Shared Vision
Great leaders have clear vision. Great leaders set their sights, stay their course, and learn lessons along the way. It takes commitment to stay on course when every wind is blowing against you.
Great leaders know where they want an enterprise to go and are committed to their vision. In order for the founder to ensure that the firm not only remains great but becomes even greater after his or her departure, the founder must find an aspirant who shares that same vision.
Work Ethic
Look for someone who works hardest when no one else is watching. Tiger Woods, debatably one of the greatest golfers of all time, has a relentless work ethic that he learned from his Green Beret father. No one’s preparation routine came remotely close to his. Thanks to Tiger, today exercise, diet, and swing instructors are the norm in professional golf. Tiger demonstrated that if you want to be the best on the course, you must work even harder off the course, when no one else is watching.
After shared vision, a Tigerlike work ethic is the second thing to look for in a succession candidate. Find someone who loves the work — you can always teach a hard worker the business. An aspirant who is prepared to spend time studying, reading, listening, and attending webinars and conferences is demonstrating the work ethic necessary to separate themselves from other candidates.
Encouragement
The Greek word for “encourage” is parakaleo. The prefix, para, means to come alongside, as in paramedic. Kaleo, means to call or exhort. Encouragers come alongside people and exhort them.
The words we say and hear are powerful. An encouraging word can push dispirited people through to the finish line. Encouragement creates positive reciprocity and shows you care. It lifts people up when they feel most alone. Encouragers are the ballast that keeps ships afloat.
Acceptance
Find someone ready to adapt when the unexpected occurs.
Mike Tyson once said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” What becomes of a person’s vision, work ethic, and words of encouragement when circumstances happen beyond their control? Accepting people are prepared to turn those lemons into lemonade.
The best leaders plan for adversity and accept it as part of the bigger plan. However, don’t confuse acceptance with apathy. Apathetic people are complacent and the first to quit when adversity strikes. People who accept what they cannot control understand that adversity comes and persevere through it.
Find a successor who accepts adversity and you’re likely to have found the right successor.
Tenacity
Once a colleague visited our home in Florida from Australia. When a young associate met the Australian colleague she asked, “What has been the secret of your success?”
Without hesitation, he said, “I refused to quit. I never gave in.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it,” he replied. “Success seeks out those who refuse to quit.”
My associate never forgot those simple yet profound words. Success seeks out the tenacious.
When looking for the right successor, seek character over competence. Find the one with a shared vision, who is prepared to work, and ready to encourage others. Look for evidence that the candidate accepts adversity and has tenacity coursing through his or her veins. The right successor is out there, but finding this person takes diligence. Those committed to using SWEAT to identify their company’s next leader are best positioned for making sure their business remains sustainable.
short url:
