Regardless of how you plan to ease yourself on to your next big thing, most owners agree that openly discussing an exit strategy — even if it’s years away — will cause panic and trigger resistance from their employees.
I, of course, take the counter-intuitive view that exit strategies are a vital element of any business plan. They answer the ultimate question about why the owner has a business — to monetize their career at a faster pace than being someone else’s employee, for instance.
Of course, a good exit strategy requires a healthy business. You can reward employees for helping you reach your goals. Why keep that a secret?
Two years ago, I brought a number of business owners together for a candid conversation about exit strategy and succession planning. Here’s what we learned.
https://www.trstimson.com/learn-from-exit-strategy-workshop/