Succession planning

Building the bench so a departure does not stall the business. The diagnostic is simple: if the best manager left tomorrow, who is ready.

Succession planning in practice

Hypothetical: a founder develops a general manager to take responsibility for daily operations, documents key relationships, and assigns transition responsibilities. This preparation may reduce key-person and transition risk. The time required and any effect on value depend on the business; planning does not guarantee a valuation premium.

Key-person risk · A Player Disease · Founder transition · Founder-led business · The Thumb Scanner Principle · Drummer · All of the glossary