Are Your Feelings About Succession Getting in Your Way?
For many RIA founders, the idea of strategic planning—including succession or exit strategies—is not fun. It’s not typically an “I can’t wait to get started” kind of activity. There are a million different things vying for your attention, and if things are going well, it’s easier to just see how things will unfold naturally.
If strategizing your succession or exit plan isn’t topping the list of things you feel like focusing on, you’re not alone. But you are getting in your own way.
The #1 obstacle to success
The #1 succession-planning obstacle faced by many founders is that they don’t feel like making the effort or taking the time to get started.
Unfortunately, running a successful independent RIA allows you to hide in a lot of places: Look at all the urgent and important people and activities on your calendar! You’re so busy! It’s okay if now doesn’t feel like the right time to plan your succession—there are things to focus on in the here and now!
But here’s the thing: if you give into the feeling that succession planning is less important right now than the activities you’ve mastered to build your business and create the lifestyle you enjoy, you’re risking a successful transition into your next chapter.
In addition, if you’re hanging on to the status quo—or, worse, wishful thinking—you’re at risk of being pushed into a “strategy by default.” This could be a rushed sale, handing over leadership to an ill-prepared successor, or even the attrition of great people.
Now those are outcomes that will not feel good.
Your feelings are leading indicators
As an investment professional, you understand the concept of “leading indicators.” Well, the same concept applies when it comes to planning for your own exit and future.
How we experience life is determined by our thoughts, which create the emotions that drive our actions (or lack thereof). And each action—or inaction—has consequences. Essentially, our thoughts create our reality. When beginning the work of succession planning, I always ask these 3 questions:
- What is your most dominant feeling when you start to think about succession or exit planning?
- What is the thought or belief creating that feeling?
- Does creating the outcome you really want require that you adjust your dominant thoughts and beliefs?
So many professional men and women go through life completely unaware that their limiting thoughts have hijacked their sense of what’s possible in their lives and work. Their feelings are literally holding them back.
When you pay attention to your feelings, they can be a leading indicator to your success—a link to your intuition and your gut sense about what a WIN-WIN-WIN [LINK to “Creating a Successful Succession Formula” blog post] succession means to you.
Choice is the key factor for a successful succession
You, the seasoned professional, have the power of choice—who you want to be and how you want to feel in your business and your life.
Because you can choose where and how you invest your time and financial resources, you also wind up choosing—consciously or unconsciously—your dominant thoughts about succession planning. You may feel like now is not the time to focus on succession planning, but think again. By choosing to examine your feelings and thoughts about succession now, you are making the first step toward your next stage in life—on your terms.
What feelings are getting in the way of your succession or exit strategy planning? Wonder how prioritize your next steps?
Click here to download our complimentary report- “5 Questions Business Owners Never Ask and Should, to Create a Succession Plan that Works ”
