Putting “Success" into Succession Planning
By John Kennedy

Business Owner - choose one:
___ Change by Crisis ___ Change by Drift ___ Change by Design
There are three types of change that we come up against in our lives: "change by crisis", "change by drift" and "change by design". In the approach to succession planning, our industry has witnessed many unfortunate and tragic stories of “Change by Crisis”. I have known four green industry owners that have suddenly passed away (I’m sure we all know a tragic handful or more as well), and we all continue to pray for their families.In the case of sudden death, the company is forced to “react” to the need for immediate transition and often times finds itself ill-prepared for the task. Who is going to run the business? What is the financial health of the business? Will it remain in the family (are the kids interested in taking over)? Which employees might step up or step in? And finally, can we survive such a loss of this great magnitude?