Conversation Piece: How To Survive and Thrive Despite the Lack of Succession Planning with Carmen Lence

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Transitioning a business from one generation to the next is probably the most difficult and complex process a family business will face, requiring much thought, trust and planning.

Carmen Lence wrote a blog titled “How to Survive and Thrive Despite the Lack of Succession Planning," discussing the troubles Kathleen Thurmond faced when she was forced into managing her family’s business. Often times, family members are obligated to take an active role in the family business when something traumatic happens. 

“After her father suffered a stroke, Kathleen Thurmond had to jump into managing her family business, without previous experience in the business. In this interview, Kathleen shares tips on how to survive and thrive – successfully selling the family business 12 years later, despite having no succession planning, experience, or guidance with running the business,” (NextGenerationRevolution.com). 

Continuity Family Business Consulting’s own Doug Baumoel found the article to be very interesting, commenting, “It shows just how important it is to have people-management experience. Kathleen’s experience was managing people, unrelated to the specific industry of her family’s business. Henry Mintzberg recently wrote a book and several articles about ‘Managers Not MBA’s.’ His point was that the MBA prepares a person with the technical skills required to analyze and understand a business – but only managerial experience truly prepares someone for corporate leadership. Kathleen’s story is an excellent example of this,” (NextGenerationRevolution.com). 

Doug also added, “Too often, founders or other family business leaders try bringing up the next-gen through staff positions. These next-gen prospective leaders are sent to the finest MBA programs and they get involved in many of the most important projects and opportunity evaluations that the company faces. However, they do not get people management experience- or P&L responsibility, for that matter. It sounds like Kathleen had the perfect preparation for managing the crisis she and her family’s business faced,” (NextGenerationRevolution.com). 

To read the interview, and to find out how to relax and get everything done if you’re in a sink-or-swim situation with your family business, click HERE.