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Exiting Gracefully – Do I Still Got It?
April 22, 2008
Exiting gracefully is no easy task. I’m constantly advising the “next generation” about the role their aging father or mother, who may also be declining health, is playing in holding up the business.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for re-firing rather than re-tiring and believe that retirement is not something to strive for. But passing the baton of a business is different. The business is greater than you, and you have a stewardship responsibility to ensure that it continues on beyond you in a smooth and seamless fashion, requiring a graceful exit.
In my last post, Exiting Gracefully - Face the Fear, I indicated that the first step to exiting the business gracefully is to recognize and face your fear. I understand that this requires some critical self-analysis, something most of us prefer to avoid, but the self-analysis doesn’t stop there. In order to have a graceful exit, business owners who are growing ever closer to mortality projections must also put themselves through a critical self-analysis to assess whether “they still have what it takes.” Sylvester Stallone in the latest installment of the Rocky movie series addressed this point head on and handled the issue well.
But this question - “Do I still got it?” – is not just an esoteric one. It’s a practical one. There are some specific things that need to be evaluated. Here a few questions to help with your self-analysis:
Do I still have what it takes to:
- Close a sale?
- Anticipate tomorrow's technology needs?
- Anticipate tomorrow’s talent needs?
- Provide fresh insight and leadership to the organization?
- Bring energy and productivity to the business?
- Hold people accountable to high standards?
- Understand market conditions?
- Understand what is driving the market?
- Allow others to get the spotlight for their ideas?
- Roll with the punches?
- Have fun on the job?
When you are beginning to slip in the value that you are bringing to the table, or aren’t having fun anymore, then it’s time for you to begin the process of passing the baton. This doesn’t mean that it’s time for you to shrivel up and die. It means that it’s time for you to enter a new phase of life that can be exciting and very rewarding. If you approach your latter years with an attitude of giving back by taking a significant step toward passing the baton, you will have accomplished a graceful exit.
Posted by Jeff Faulkner on April 22, 2008 | Comments (0)
