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| Succession & Failure |
Failed 100 Year Plans
Daniel Gross
01/01/2004
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"Beginnings," wrote historian and theologian Chaim Potok, "are always hard." He neglected to add that the second and third acts, so to speak, are even harder. At the start of our careers, we define ourselves, our missions, our beliefs—hard work to be sure, but the blankness of life pushes us on, or pulls us forward, and gradually we fill these voids. However difficult as  these small acts of creation may be, our most exhausting struggles are often against the unseen intrusions of entropy, which labors by degrees to undo all that we have done. Whereas, in youth, we see clearly the work before us, time and new generations sometimes obscure our vision: The distinctions between the interests of our families and those of our businesses become muddled, and we forget that the same hard work and energy that established these entities must be applied to their preservation and growth.
Leadership succession, continuous growth and innovation do not happen as a matter of course: The very nature of a family business often undercuts these goals, serving as it must all of its stakeholders—customers, employees and current and future owners. A
family’s 100-year plan attempts—through its family mission statement, the family’s financial institutions, and a well-considered succession strategy—to manage these tensions to ensure that both family and business prosper. But, to paraphrase the well-worn aphorism, even the best-laid plans are prone to fail.
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