Not everyone wants to be in the family business. Children, nieces or nephews that are interested may not be old enough or experienced enough to take over the reins. The best advice is that family members wishing to take over as CEO of the business should work 2 years for another business that is not a competitor but maybe a large corporation or complimentary business. It’s good to experience other Technology, Training and Human Resource departments at other businesses so when you return to the family business you will have the knowledge of how other businesses handle issues.

I believe a better alternative is having a non-family member take over as CEO and mentor to the family members. Think about how parents aren’t the best people to teach their children to drive. They normally don’t have the patience it requires and you don’t want your child to learn your bad habits. Sound familiar? The best would be to have an exchange program where you take my daughter and train her for two years and I’ll take your son. Who knows you might develop a joint venture out of it. The ideal intermediate CEO would be someone that wants the position for 15 years.   If your son or daughter is 30 at the time, in 15 years they will be the perfect age to take over the business at 45 and still have 20 years run the business. It is best to have executive staff and family members involved in interviewing and selecting this proxy family member to bridge the gap between generations. Only 30% make it to the second generation and 5% make it to the third generation. Let’s prove that statistic wrong. Family businesses can survive with the right plan.

Also published in the Lehigh Valley Business Journal