When a national deli meat manufacturer faced declining yields, equipment inconsistencies, and looming leadership turnover, they called in a seasoned interim COO from InterimExecs’ RED Team to get operations back on track.
Michael Bartikoski, a veteran operations executive with deep roots in food manufacturing, stepped into the role with three goals: stabilize operations, improve yields, and build the next generation of leadership.
When it comes to family business succession, pain is unavoidable. Even in the happiest, most loving families, there will be moments of disagreement and dissension. It’s unavoidable. That’s because the goal of a family is a loving relationship. But in business, goals must always include results, even if hard-fought.
So the acknowledgement implicit in family business is: there will be pain. But suffering is optional.
That is the key message InterimExecs CEO Robert Jordan sends in this lively 7-minute video about family business succession conflict:
Nearly all (98%) US companies that responded to PwC’s 11th Global Family Business Survey say they have some form of governance policy in place. But, just what “governance policy” means varies widely. It could be anything from a shareholders agreement (75%) to conflict resolution mechanisms (22%).
In addition, the survey found that 78% of respondents say that protecting the business as the most important family asset is their top goal for the next five years and 72% want to ensure the business stays in the family. Despite that, in 2021, only 34% said they had a robust, documented, and communicated succession plan in place.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be all that surprising that so many family-owned businesses lack a formal plan. Creating a succession plan requires having difficult discussions around emotionally fraught family dynamics:
Despite widely quoted statistics that say that only 30 percent of family businesses successfully transition to the second generation and only 13 percent survive through the third generation, a Harvard Business Review report says that is not true.
So you’re looking for an exit strategy and the sale of your business seems like the best approach. But how do you get the most for the business you have built? Start right now preparing your company for a sale.
The good news for sellers: It’s a seller’s market. There are not enough assets in the world for the amount of investment banking cash that is sloshing around in the markets, as InterimExecs CEO Robert Jordan said in this recent webinar:
When it’s time to step away from the business you’ve built — because you’re ready to retire, you want to pursue another opportunity, or for some other reason — what’s the right way to exit your business?
The short answer is: It depends.
Here, we lay out five examples of exit strategies and look at who should consider each one.
There’s bad news and good news when it comes to family business transition to the next generation.
First, the bad news: Only about one-third of businesses survive that transition. Here’s how the Harvard Business Review put it in a 2022 article: “In many family businesses, the tension between the eagerness of the next generation’s leaders to take control, and the founding generation’s willingness to relinquish control, is the source of many failed relationships and companies.”
InterimExecs CEO Robert Jordan takes a look at the challenges of family conflict in this lively 7-minute video:
Now, the good news: It doesn’t have to be that way. With a lot of planning, honest conversation, and realistic expectations, family businesses can survive and thrive for generations to come.
Here, we dive into the challenges of transitioning a family business to second-generation leadership and how to navigate those challenges successfully.
It’s no surprise that family business conflict is common among family-owned businesses. Or that it most often stems from family dynamics. The question is how to handle it.
There are plenty of business consultants who can step in to help companies manage family relationships in a business setting. The desired outcome is family cohesion and a successful family business.
In some cases, that can only happen when you bring in non-family members to run the business in the interest of promoting family harmony.
But, before we dive into that, let’s look at the biggest conflicts in family businesses.
Selling your business to private equity is a potentially very lucrative business exit strategy. In fact, the second sale — when the PE firm sells the company outright to recoup its initial investment — can be even more lucrative than the first deal when you sell to a PE firm.
But selling your business to a private equity fund is a complicated sale process and you could end up partners for a number of years before getting a big buyout when the second sale closes. So it’s important to understand all of the ins and outs before embarking on this path.
Here, we share 9 important questions you should ask if you are considering selling your business to private equity.
Once owners, board members, and investors figure out exactly what an interim is and how an interim can help, the next question is: How much does an interim executive cost?
The short answer is: There is no off-the-shelf rate card for interim execs. Or more precisely, it doesn’t exist for the best interims in the world.
The first thing to understand about interim executive costs is to know that interim and permanent executive compensation is structured differently.
Running a family business is no walk in the park. The family dinners or holiday gatherings could be mistaken for board room meetings, with topics of conversation jumping between family matters and minute business topics.
Discussions get further complicated when it comes time for a transition of ownership as the first generation of family businesses starts to look towards retirement and relinquishing control of day-to-day activities. Who will step in to lead the company?
A number of family business succession issues arise, from siblings quarreling about how to divide up the business and inheritance to instability within the organization as employees wonder what their future holds.
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First-year Change Agent members have access to the Interim Institute’s 4 hour audio program on the Fundamentals of Interim Management, and a one-hour strategy session to help jumpstart their interim career.
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