“Corporate Mortality” – the most likely reason executive change is not occurring in your business and could hasten its demise

Having spoken to many Will & Probate lawyers over the years, it is astonishing the number of stories they tell regarding the number of successful people who either do did not write a will or had to write it late and under pressure.

The general response when asked why they think their clients do not want to prepare a will (despite knowing and understanding its benefits), is that people either do not want to confront their own mortality or that somehow having a will in place is more likely to hasten their demise.

In our experience, there is a very similar phenomenon in private businesses which are about to enter  a period of change, particularly those still led by an original founder.

Despite knowing that the sensible and logical thing to do for the evolution of the business is to bring in new leaders, there is either an outright reluctance or, even worse, a seemingly self-sabotaging approach to making the necessary changes.

A failure to address this “corporate mortality” often leads to stagnation, internal tensions and, ultimately, the demise of the business they have built.

In many cases, the process may be slow, developing pace over an extended period of uncertainty, which may include several false starts..  However, delay is likely to bring increased costs and, sometimes, a fraying of what had been regarded as strong relationships.

Thankfully, this process can be overcome with the help of experienced advisors who understand that making changes to leadership can be hard and may have tax and legal implications – it can also help to build resilience, restore strong relationships and support a culture that will sustain the business into the future.

If anything highlighted above connects to your current situation, please contact Stuart James on stuart.james@mm-k.com in the first instance to start exploring this area.

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