Next Generation Owners…………?

By Sid Chadwick, Chadwick Consulting
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sid-chadwick-163a1a12/

“It is necessary to learn from others mistakes…..You will not live long enough to make them all yourself.”……………….……….Hyman George Rickover

INTRODUCTION:

Over the last decade….I’ve watched at least three terrific organizations… shut down --- for lack of a succession plan.

If it were easy….. it would already have been done.

If it were easy….there would be no honor in it.

Development of your organization’s next owners… and senior management…maybe in your game plan…..but where’s the plan…and do the key players ….know its content…and which calendar year is it in……(Jiddish Proverb…..”If you want to hear God laugh,…tell him your plan”)……?

Autocratic…. driving….successful owners….do not tend to be the best teachers…..or developers of executive talent…..as an observation.

Some of us can testify that our strength…and wisdom… are much the result of surviving decisions ….that were not exactly….smart…..or correct.

We can also testify that our personal existence today, re. who we are, who we are perceived to be by others……is not always the result of great insights, or talent…or lots of late hours of work….. but much the result of our seeing something unique…..or… just plain luck.

I heard from an association executive that there are no new companies in our industry being created…………... I disagree.

There are new owners….in every geography……taking over struggling companies that have lost their compass….their vision….their leadership….to perform.

Associations may be most interested in assisting their larger members --- understandably --- that’s where their critical dues originate.

My observation…. is that “innovation”… is in the smaller organizations. That’s also where there’s greater accountability, and intimacy with the customer……..and the deep desire to survive…. and prosper….is alive and well.

SUMMARY:

So who in your organization is hungry…. for an opportunity to create, to develop a new department….to perform…?

You either create that opportunity for that individual…to take ownership…..or you can count on them not being there one morning…..because they are searching….and they found….. what they were searching for…..a personal opportunity….that didn’t exist where they were.

When you conducted your last written Performance Reviews, did you ask:

1. What would you like to be doing here, in a year or two…?
2. What talents do you have that we’re not providing the opportunity…. for you to demonstrate….to perform?

You are conducting…at least annually (every six months is my preference….so we don’t lose any of your best talent) --- written Performance Reviews, aren’t you….?

“Ideas and ambition…won’t keep……something must be done with them…”………………...Alfred North Whitehead