No Success Without a Successor

Published on Jul 25, 2016 by Elisa Nash

Have you thought about what will happen to your business when you retire? Will you sell it? Pass it on to your children? Will it be run by someone who has the same values and worldview as you do? Will it continue to be used as a platform for furthering God’s Kingdom?

Yesterday, Forbes published an article entitled, “More Than Half Of China’s Family Businesses Face Succession Dilemma.” Over the last three decades, China’s economic reforms have provided a climate favorable to entrepreneurs. And traditional Chinese values have created intense pressure for the second generation to take over the family businesses. But what to do if your children have no interest in taking over the family business? How are conflicts resolved? And what happens to employees?

These are questions that every business owner will have to answer at some point. Less than 15% of small businesses survive into the second generation, primarily because of a lack of a succession plan. If you’d like to see your business live on into future generations as a platform for sharing the gospel, but aren’t sure where to start planning for succession, check out the video “Loving Monday: The W.R. Beckett Corp Story” in the FCCI Resource Library. You’ll hear how FCCI member John Becket left a position at NASA to join the family business, took over operations just a few months later when his father suddenly passed away, and built the company into a third generation industry leader that exhibits the hallmarks of an FCCI Kingdom Company.

Note: This video resource is only available to FCCI Members. Not a Member? Click here to join today!