When all is said and done, where do you see your construction business going next succession-wise? This question is not at all very easy to answer; in fact, even the great ones fumble over their succession planning like Disney. The good thing is that we’re here to learn from their mistakes. In this episode, Eric Anderton flies solo to break down the winning strategies we can learn from Disney’s leadership missteps so we can avoid the succession sinkhole. He prepares a step-by-step guide on succession planning, looking into three things: decision-making, structuring the plan, and lessons learned. Eric shares the succession planning framework along with the necessary questions to consider before diving headfirst—from getting buy-in to assembling a team to deciding on your successor. Through it all, Eric reminds us that no great plan is ever smooth sailing; you’ll have to face some weakness eventually. But by going through the planning process and learning from the challenges your way will help make your plan a reality. Tune in now and get your succession planning in place, ensuring your company’s future!
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Avoid The Succession Sinkhole: Winning Strategies From Disney’s Leadership Missteps
Steer clear of Mickey Mouse’s succession and build a Lion King legacy. In this episode, if you’re reading this, it’s a good episode to check out on YouTube because I’m recording my screen, and I have a PowerPoint presentation. How many of you have seen the movie The Lion King? At the beginning of the movie, Simba, the successor to Mufasa, is presented. The intention is for Simba to take over Pride Lands from Mufasa, but Scar, the envious uncle, disrupts the succession plan, kills Mufasa, banishes Simba, and takes over the throne.
We have that one image of Simba beseeching his father to get up, but we know that his father is dead and he will not be getting up. What does The Lion King teach us about succession planning? It’s interesting when we ask that question because who produced or created and published the Lion King movie? We all know that it is Disney. Like in The Lion King, Disney’s succession plan has been derailed.
My intention for this episode is to take a look at the challenges that Disney has experienced, not only in fantasy with movies like The Lion King but in reality with their own business when it comes to succession planning. Also, to use that as a tale for us to consider when we are looking at our succession plans, specifically for you to consider when you are looking at your succession plan because you might be like Mickey Mouse, going along thinking everything’s going great with your succession plan when, in fact, it could be a little bit like goofy where there’s a lot of stumbles, difficulties, and challenges.
Bob Iger is well-known by many people. He became the CEO of Disney in 2005. Under his leadership, Disney grew tremendously through a combination of acquisitions of intellectual property such as the Star Wars universe, Marvel, and other entities, as well as technological advancements and global expansion.
His successor was Bob Chapek. Bob’s background was a little bit different than Bob Iger’s. He started at Disney in 1993. Some of his career highlights include being the Chairman of Parks and Resorts. He was Iger’s handpicked successor in 2020. Iger picked him because Bob Chapeck was instrumental in helping Bob Iger overcome some of the challenges associated with the construction of Disney Shanghai. Bob Chapeck was known in Disney as a successful operator, whereas Bob Iger was known for his creativity and the relationships that he built not only internally in Disney but also externally with the creative world that does drive in many ways the heart of what Disney does.
By 2022, the succession plan between Bob Iger and Bob Chapek was a failure. I’m presenting this here not to dump on Disney in any way. That is not the point. The point is to learn from other people’s successes and failures and take some of that learning and reflect on succession planning in our businesses. If you own or are part owner of a construction company, you have three basic options when it comes to succession planning.
The first one is that you can shut it down. I would like to make a point here, as we’re diving into this discussion, that it is perfectly acceptable for you to shut your business down. You’ve started it. It can be whatever you want it to be. If you come to the end of your run and you say, “I’m done. I’m going to sell the equipment, shut it down, take my money, and move on to the next phase of my life,” that is perfectly acceptable.
For many of you who are reading this episode who own construction companies, that’s not what you’d like to do. That leaves you with two other options. You can sell your company externally or internally. What I mean by selling it externally is I know many of the companies I work with are mechanical contractors, and there are a number of companies in the mechanical contractor space, large companies that run their businesses by buying out other locally based successful mechanical contractors. A legitimate exit strategy or succession strategy is to sell it externally, or you could sell your company internally. There are a number of different vehicles that you can do to sell it internally. If you want a particular one that you can look at, search for the Episode 125. It’s called Exit Strategy Experts: How to Structure and Execute a Transition to the Next Generation. This is with one of my colleague companies, BFBA.
The reality is your business run is going to come to an end at some point. We cannot avoid death and taxes. As you sit in your business at the moment, you’re tremendously busy, and you don’t have a lot of time and you may feel good. With all that busyness, you’re making good money, and you’re not focused on the succession planning aspect of your business. If that’s the case, you fall into a bucket with about 70% to 80% of other small businesses and even large businesses that don’t have a succession plan in place.
The reality is that your business run is going to come to an end at some point. We cannot avoid death and taxes. Click To TweetThe purpose of this episode is to get you thinking about that and to provide you with some resources to make some progress on your succession plan. You must start succession planning. There are three things that we’re going to take a look at in this episode. The first one is the decision that you have to make. That decision revolves around when and how you’re going to move on, or do you stick around? It’s a decision that you have to think through because one of the big challenges that Bob Iger had was processing that decision.
The second thing you want to look at is the structure of your succession plan. As you ride off into the sunset, and perhaps it’s not only you that’s going off into the sunset, but it’s the people who have been with you, your co-owners or your key executives, they’re coming to the end of the run. How are you going to structure the succession so that you’re passing on the business, particularly if you’re doing that internal sale to the next generation in such a way that they’ll be glad to take over and be able to carry the business forward?
The last thing we’re going to take a look at is the lessons from what we’ve learned. Those lessons are very important to consider because one of the big issues that many succession planning processes have is that the person who owns the construction company decides to move on, but they end up sticking around. That whole messiness causes the succession plan to not be effective. That’s what happened at Disney.
Should You Move On Or Stick Around?
Let’s first talk about your decision to move on or stick around. You got to take a look in the mirror. If you’re in your ‘50s, you’re no longer in your ‘30s. You don’t necessarily have another 20 or 25 years to go. You know that the last 20 or 25 years went quickly, particularly if you’ve been running a construction company. You’ve got to look in the mirror and figure out, “How much longer do I have in the business? How much juice do I have left? Do I want to be in the position that I’m in, bearing the responsibilities and the risks that I bear?”
If the answer to that is yes, that’s tremendous. If the answer to that is no, as you look in the mirror, you need to think through, “How is it that I’m going to set up the business for the future so that I’m able to pass it on to the next generation of owners?” You’ve put in the blood, sweat, and tears. You’ve put that in. What would be a great outcome of a succession plan for you?
If you’re reading this, you should check out the YouTube video because some of the visuals here are going to be helpful to you. On the screen, I have a page from the succession planning framework that I use with all of my clients when we’re going through these types of discussions because this is part of the coaching and strategic planning practice that I have with construction companies. It includes succession planning.
The first thing you want to do is take your time and go through a series of questions. Some of those questions include the first one being, what does succession planning mean to you? That’s a good question for you to ask because it might mean something different to you than it does to somebody else. What would be the great outcome of a succession plan? In other words, on your last day of work, if you decide not to die in the saddle.
On your last day of work, as you’re walking out the door, how is the company structured? Who’s in places of responsibility? How much money have you generated as a result of the succession plan, perhaps of an internal or external sale? What is the outcome of a great succession plan for you? What is the timing to create that plan? What is the timing for the execution of the plan? What is driving the need for a succession plan?
Maybe you have health issues that you maybe haven’t shared with other people. That internal motivation and drive that has dropped off, and you’re done. Who else besides yourself should be involved in this process? Succession planning typically is not a one-person decision. It requires the collaboration of others. These are a few of the questions that I encourage my clients to dig deep into when they are thinking about succession planning.
Let’s talk a little bit more about the motivations that you might have behind succession planning. Perhaps one of those motivations is to leave a legacy. I’d like you to consider for a moment the legacy that you have, which is tremendous if you’ve run a successful business for any period of time. You can drive down the street, point to a construction project, and say with pride, “I built that.” You may have collaborated with other people in the building, but you know that you’ve had a tremendous impact on the built environment of the communities you operate in. Perhaps you want to continue that legacy.
Many of the clients I work with are multi-generational. Some have been in business for over 100 years. Some have single-digit contractors’ licenses in the states in which they operate. With that in mind, they have a tremendous legacy and a tremendous positive impact on their communities. You want to take care of your guys, the men and women who have committed to your company over the years. One of the reasons you want your company to go on is because you understand that not only do you have an impact on the built environment, but you also have an impact on the lives of your employees and their families.
If you employ a couple of hundred people in your organization, you know the 5 or 10-fold impact that has upon the people that they support, influence, and impact through the money they get from working for you. We consider these things, and these are not light things. These are tremendously meaningful. Think about the money that you would like to get out of your business. You’ve put in the blood, sweat, and tears. If you’ve run a successful business, you’ve made good money, but there are other financial rewards that you may feel that you are. Do that you’ve earned, and you want to make sure that you reap those financial rewards from your business. These are a few of the motivations that you may have as you’re thinking about your succession plan.
You have to ask, “When am I going to set aside time for this planning?” My recommendation for you is that you set aside at least a couple of hours every month to think about your succession plan. This goes for someone who is starting their business or has been in business for a number of years. If you’re like me, you’ve committed to playing long-term games with long-term people.
When I started my company, I made a several-year commitment. That is particularly true because I have niched to the construction industry. I have a deep commitment to serving and helping the people who own and run construction companies. That commitment is ongoing. Even if you’ve launched your construction company and know anything about the industry, you know that it’s a relationship game and that those long-term commitments are necessary. It’s more than likely that you are aiming to build a business over years, if not decades. It’s important for you to begin to look at your succession planning, whether you’ve been in business for 1 year, 10 years, or 30 years.
If you know anything about the industry, you know that it's a relationship game and that those long-term commitments are necessary. Click To TweetAnother thing you have to consider, and this is one of the ways that Disney stumbled a little bit, is the announcement of the succession plan. Bob Iger played the decision of the announcement of the succession plan close to his chest. It was a bit of a surprise for many people when he announced that Bob Chapek was going to be his successor.
This is something that you have to think through. You may not be anxious to share personal information about the structure of the business and the ownership right away with everyone. That’s fair enough. One thing that I’d like to emphasize, as you’re considering succession planning, is that there is no one way of doing things. There is no magic pill when it comes to succession planning. It’s a tremendously difficult thing to do.
If you’ve built a business that is unique from any other business, your succession plan may be unique from any other business’s succession plan, but there are fundamental principles that drive the success of a business regardless of who runs it. There are fundamental principles that drive the success of a succession plan, no matter who is putting it together.
One of those principles is how you roll out the succession plan, how you announce it, and how you communicate it. You should do it in such a way that people aren’t caught by surprise. That is the people who are affected by the succession plan. They have some inclination of what’s going on. If you catch people by surprise with your succession planning announcement, don’t be surprised if you fail to get the buy-in and the commitment to your plan that you’re looking for.
You have to think through your timeline for executing that succession plan. That’s particularly true when you’re focused on an internal sale, and you’ve identified candidates to take over the business from you. You know that though they may have the willingness, motivation, and innate talent to take over the business from you. They are not yet ready from an experience or a wisdom perspective. They need time to get comfortable with the responsibilities of taking over the business from you. Therefore, that execution runway is a bit longer than if you were selling it to an outside party and then walking away.
What leads to an important thing for you to think through is who will be helping you with the succession plan. There are external people that you need to bring on board to help you with the execution and the structure of the plan. The internal people are perhaps the most important. I’ll take that back. If you’re doing an internal sale, they are the most important this is a place of deep challenge because you may have people in mind who you’d like to take the business over from you. It could be family members or people who’ve been committed to your business and working with you for many years, but because you want them to doesn’t mean they want to or are able to.
I have one particular company in mind many years ago that began the succession process and had identified family members. The person who owned the company wanted the family owners to step into the business and take it over. The family owners that they identified neither had the desire or the capacity. Going through that process of figuring that out was something that was very challenging both to the individuals and to the family dynamic.
When you broach the subject of someone purchasing the company from you, particularly an internal candidate, it may at first blush seem something appealing as they look at you. They see the truck that you drive and speculate on the money that you are taking home. They consider that guy or gal is no smarter than me. I could do this. As they begin to see a little bit of how the sausage is made from an ownership perspective when they begin to understand the risks that you’ve taken on and how that risk has not only affected you personally but has affected your family, they begin to shy away from ownership responsibility.
Whatever the case is, taking the time to identify those internal candidates, have those discussions, and go through the process of succession planning is vital. Not only the internal candidates who are going to have some ownership in the business potentially but also those internal candidates who are going to be filling key roles as you and your generation of leadership sunset from the business. bob Iger chose Bob Chapek to be his successor for reasons. Bob Chapek is a low-drama individual. He has a high degree of integrity and operational expertise. I don’t know about you, but having someone on board to succeed you who is low-drama, high integrity, and a great operator may be a tremendous fit for your business.
It’s interesting when you put a plan together. Dwight Eisenhower has a very famous quote, “Every battle is going to surprise you. No plan ever survives contact with the enemy.” A great plan often goes awry because of circumstances that are beyond the scope of the plan, or the weaknesses of a plan are exposed when they’re executed and given an opportunity to contact the real world. Planning is a conceptual thing. Executing is another matter, but going through the planning process itself with a combination of execution will help you respond to the deficiencies in your plan or the gaps between your plan and reality. The sooner you begin to plan and execute, the quicker you’ll be able to get feedback from the real world on the quality of your succession plan and begin to make adjustments.
We’ve talked about the decision. Let me say this. If you don’t want to leave, don’t. Don’t feel that because you’ve hit a certain number that in age, you’re 60 or 65, whatever the case is. If you’ve still got the juice, stick around, but understand that time is passing, and we are all going to die. If you want the company to stick around, you must put together and begin to consider that succession plan.
Succession Structure: Foundation
Let’s talk about the structure. You’re writing off into the sunset. You and the generation of folks who have built the business, you want to pass it on, particularly if we’re talking about an internal sale, but even if you’re talking about an external sale, let me make a point here. They’re going to be looking at your numbers and bottom line when they are purchasing from you, someone externally, your profit and loss.
They’re also going to be looking at your team. There’s tremendous value in having a great team in place that can carry the business on whether you decide to sell externally or internally and you want to set them up for success. With that in mind, every building has a foundation, structural framework, and envelope that protects the building so that we haven’t laid the foundation and put up the structural framework in vain.
Let’s talk about the foundation of a good succession plan. It’s something that often people miss. It’s understanding the roles and the responsibilities of the people who are going to be stepping into new roles in your organization. Navigating the tension between what you do and what the next generation of people are going to do. Not the role but the responsibility and the areas of authority.
This is a challenge that many businesses have. It’s sketching out, deciding on, and committing to. What is it that you are going to do, and what is it that I am going to do? Particularly as we’re going through this succession process. This is something that Disney has come across many times. Bob Chapek was the CEO in name, but the influence of Bob Iger often caused him to not be able to function as a CEO, which was a problem in the succession with Disney.
One of the things you’re going to have to do if you’re going to execute a succession is, at some point, you’re going to have to give up some power. One of the reasons why you’ve built a successful business is because you’re good at utilizing power effectively. A challenge for some people is to yield power to others.
I don’t mean that in a negative way like you have some massive ego. You’re just used to being in charge, getting stuff done, and getting it done in a particular way. If you’ve been responsible over the years for the final say on the go, no go, on whether you’re going to take a project on. That becomes someone else’s role and responsibility at some point. You may often find or likely find yourself in a scenario where the person you are passing the business onto or that particular role and role onto makes a decision on a project to go where you might say no.
Think about this particularly. One of the reasons why you’ve built a successful business is that you’ve been willing to take on risk, and you may bring in some people into your business that are a little more risk-averse. When you say go, they may say no. That’s why it’s important to define those roles and responsibilities and figure out how you’re going to go through that decision-making process.
You also have to think about this idea of talents and skills. This is particularly true for someone who has built their own business. They typically have a unique package of talent and skills. Because of that unique package, they do things that other people don’t do. One of the things that you have to think through is, “What makes me unique? Am I able to identify people who can fill those areas of uniqueness sufficiently to continue the business?”
You may be great at not only winning work but planning and building it. You may be pretty good at hustling around or getting paid for the work that you’ve done, but those skills and talents that you have may be something that half has to be distributed throughout other people in the organization as that succession plan gets executed. You have to be able to put together a strong foundation of metrics as you’re going through the succession plan of what good, bad, and unacceptable performance is.
You never want to begin to execute a succession plan where you have folks in new roles and responsibilities and be unclear on what they need to do to succeed and unclear on the measurements of that success. This is particularly true when it comes to internal succession because, going back to the idea of no plan ever surviving contact with the enemy, you may pick someone out for a position in that succession plan, even a position in ownership.
You may not give them ownership right away, but you plot out a course for them to come into ownership. As they’re tracking through that course, it becomes evident through their performance that they’re not fit for the position that you thought they might be. Don’t be surprised when that happens, but make sure you have those metrics in place so that you know what to measure their performance against so that you can understand relatively objectively whether or not they are stepping up to the plate and fulfilling a role that you intend for them to fill.
Going back to Bob Chapeck and Bob Iger, they had this power-sharing dynamic where when Chapek came on as a CEO, Iger stepped into an executive chairman role and the head of creative, which is deeply interesting. Because of the roles and responsibilities they both stepped into through the succession, that laid the foundation for the failure of the succession in many ways, particularly because, as head of creative, Iger had a tremendous influence on the engine of Disney’s success, their creative endeavors.
The logic of that you could understand because Chapek was an operator, and Iger had some skill in creative, particularly in terms of building bridges with the creative folks out in Hollywood who drive a lot of the content that makes Disney, Disney. That begs the question, why would you put someone like Chapek into the CEO role if he lacked that unique ability to interface and relate with the more creative side of the business?
Think about, as you’re doing your succession plan, what is my business, and what are the needs of my business in terms of the people that I’m identifying as potential successors? You don’t want to bring someone into a role that they’re not suited for or into a business environment that their particular skillset is not suited for, in terms of them being able to lead again.
The company that Disney is or was when Chapek came in, if it was strictly an operational type company and the creativity aspects of it perhaps were not as important, Chapek might have been a better fit, but the needs of the business did not fit with the skills and talents that Chapek brought to the table. Some of the lack that Chapek had was evident in the way that he operated as the CEO.
That leads to another important point. There are things that you do that you do instinctively. One of the things that you have to focus on in your succession plan is making sure that you have your processes well mapped out. You might say, “Eric, I have a great process for estimating, building my work, and getting paid.” I’m glad for that.
One of the things that you have to focus on in your succession plan is making sure that you have your processes well mapped out. Click To TweetThere’s stuff in your head that needs to get out of your head and onto paper. Someone who is stepping into your role understands some of the instinctive ways that you interact with people that you’ve built up over the years. What is that extra 5% that you bring to the table in winning work, planning work, building work, or getting paid that isn’t in any of your written-down processes? Make sure that that’s written down. Others can see it, and you can develop those processes for others to be able to execute once you move on. Another thing you want to think about as you’re going through your succession plan, and I know this bites people a lot, is this idea of flight risks. As your business changes and goes from the first generation, let’s say that’s you, to the second generation, that can present challenges in terms of flight risks.
Why do people leave a business? They leave for two main reasons. 1) They don’t like their managers or the people who they report to. 2) There’s a lack of opportunity. When you’re addressing the people who may leave your business, those talented project managers, project executives, superintendents, and business development folks, you need to make sure that they’re engaged in your business in terms of workload, recognition, the autonomy they have, and opportunities for growth.
All of these things are important in terms of employee engagement and minimizing flight risk. You must have an honest conversation. You must be able to sit down with the people in your organization who are either part of the succession plan from an ownership perspective or an execution perspective and clarify with them what their ambitions and expectations are. Make sure that there is as much alignment as possible when it comes to the realities of the business, expectations, and ambitions.
Succession Structure: Structural Framework
We talked about the foundation. Let’s talk about the structural framework. This is where a lot of conflict comes in when it comes to the business. Think about your org chart at the moment in terms of winning work, planning work, building work, and getting paid. As you’re going through your succession plan, you should be laying out what your org chart looks like now, three years from now, and five years from now. You might be saying, “Eric, I have no idea where my business will be five years from now.” Fair enough, but go through the conceptual exercise.
Always take the perspective of a general manager in sports where you not only have people who are filling the role, but you are building a bench of talent. It’s a part of running your business, going through this succession planning process, and thinking through the structure of your organizational chart, which roles you need to fill, and where you’re going to tap the talent to fill those roles.
How do we need to grow the business to retain talent? That’s an interesting question. What’s going to make people want to stick around? I know many businesses that go into new lines of business in construction as a strategy to retain talent. It’s something you should consider. When it comes to development, you need to put in place a strong performance management system where you’re aligning people’s aspirations and their potential for growth with their current performance.
If people have a sense they can grow in your business, it’s far more likely that when your competitors down the street come knocking with an extra $10,000 or $20,000 a year, at least come they will back to you with that offer and say, “I want to stick with your company. I have aspirations to grow with your company.” You must be committed to strong performance management when it comes to your succession plan.
That can also lead you to think about hiring. As you look at your org chart in the future and you look at the talent base that you have internally right now, you may need to be doing some hiring. If that’s the case, you need to tune in your recruiting process to find, attract, and filter through candidates to get the right people in the right seats in your organization. Succession planning is not only working with the talent you have internally but also identifying talent externally that you may need to bring into the business.
Succession Structure: Envelope
Let’s talk about the envelope of that structure. We’ve talked about the foundation and the structural framework. What about the envelope? In any business, there are going to be ups and downs, problems and crises. When the crisis hits, this is when you need to have a strong protective mechanism in place in your business to ride through the crisis. You protect your business by agreeing to and communicating the decisions around the succession plan.
As Bob Chapek came into the CEO seat, he immediately began to encounter some challenges, such as COVID-19, political issues in Florida, and internal dynamics that perhaps he hadn’t anticipated or planned for. All of those things presented challenges to him. Based on the way the succession plan had been structured and the internal political dynamics in Disney, that led in many ways to his failure as the CEO. You’ll see that when the crisis come up, it creates conflict. If you’re going to execute the succession plan well, you must be able to go through conflict.
The problem with Disney is they have this culture of being Disney nice. It is effective when you’re looking to build a business when times are good. It is not as effective when times are challenging. You must be willing to address issues. How do you do that? You have to be able to engage in healthy conflict. When it comes to any succession plan, you’re going to find conflict. To engage in healthy conflict, you have to be able to address issues with people and be specific about what those issues are. You can’t say you always and you never. Let’s say they’re in a role where customer service is key, and they have an issue with customer service. You must address that issue.
Describe your emotions around an issue. The reason why that’s important is because in describing your emotions, you’re able to communicate to someone the importance of the issue. Whenever you’re dealing with conflict resolution, you have to be able to think through what’s at stake. For instance, when you promote someone into a role where their journey is towards the C-Suite or ownership in the business and an issue comes up, you have to be able to look them in the eye and let them know what type of issue this is. In other words, you should be able to say to them, “If you can’t address this issue, this is going to have an impact on your ability to be an owner of the business if that’s the case.”
In describing your emotions, you're able to communicate to someone the importance of the issue. Because whenever you're dealing with conflict resolution, you have to be able to think through what's really at stake. Click To TweetYou don’t want to over-amplify the issue, but you don’t want to underplay it. You must be able to clearly identify what’s at stake. If you’ve contributed in any way to the issue because of the way you’ve structured the succession plan or you are behaving, you have to identify Bob Iger and Bob Chapek apparently spent a lot of time talking to other people about their issues but not face-to-face with one another.
You have to be able to do that, particularly with the people that you’ve identified as your successors, because I promise you. They’re going to do stuff that’s going to disappoint you. You must be able to deal with that. Come to an agreement, indicate your wish to resolve issues, and say,” This is part of the process. We’re doing something difficult. I know you want to deal with these issues. Let’s work together for the benefit of the company and for the future legacy of the organization.”
Lessons Learned
That leads me to the last thing I’d like to talk about, and that’s the lessons. If you’re watching on YouTube here, you see the meme I’ve put together. You’ve made a plan to move on, but you end up sticking around. That’s what happened at Disney. That’s why you must start now in your succession plan and not only in the planning part but in starting the execution part because you’ll find that your plan does not survive contact with reality.
That’s perfectly normal and acceptable. It puts you in a place where you can then adapt as necessary. If you’re willing to adapt, that can increase the likelihood of you being able to execute a successful succession plan over the long term. If you don’t want to go anywhere, be perfectly clear about that. I said it earlier. I’ll say it again. If you don’t want to leave, don’t leave. If you’re beginning to get to the end of your run or you’re starting your run, and you’re smart, get your succession plan in place.
One of the dynamics at Disney, which I found interesting, was that Bob Iger called himself Big Bob, and he called Bob Chapek Little Bob. There’s always room for joking around in an organization. The reason why comedy is often impactful is because it tells the truth. The truth, from an outsider’s perspective, is that Bob Iger considered himself Big Bob and Bob Chapek as Little Bob. As a result of that, it was never out at Disney. He never committed to the succession plan that he put together and set it up for failure from the beginning. Not necessarily consciously, but unconsciously.
I’d like to make a note there. The people that you are bringing into your succession plan, you should admire them in some way. You should admire their abilities. I’m sure that Bob Iger admired Bob Chapek’s abilities, but the abilities that Bob Chapek has weren’t necessarily the right fit for the business needs of Disney or the structure that was put in place by Bob Iger for the succession plan. If you admire someone, make sure that you’re setting them up for success in terms of a succession plan and realize the succession plan we’re talking about is a journey. It’s something where you’re going to find success and failure. That’s why you need to give yourself as much runway as possible.
We’ve talked about the decision of whether you’re going to move on or stick around. We’ve talked about the structure and setting up a succession plan successfully so that as you go into the sunset, you can pass it on to the next generation. We’ve talked about the lessons learned. Those lessons learned should be hammered into you. You don’t end up sticking around when you should have moved on.
The Disney succession between Iger and Chapek was not a success. In 2022, Iger came back and began working on growing and addressing some of the issues, and as you might imagine, committed that next time, things were going to be different. Going back to The Lion King. At the beginning of the movie, the baby lion is presented as the successor. The succession apparently didn’t work, to begin with, and at the end of the movie, we see the resolution of the baby becoming king and passing it on to the next generation.
Who knows whether your succession is going to work like that, but it is time for you to get into action. If you don’t have a plan, now is the time to start putting it in place. With that in mind, I’d like to offer you a resource that you can take advantage of. That is the succession planning framework that I use with all of my clients.
If there’s one takeaway I would encourage you to get from this episode, it is to take that plan and at least go through the questionnaire with your executive team in the next 90 days. You can go to my website, ConstructionGenius.com/free-succession-planning-guide, and get the plan. The link is in the show notes. If you are reading, but you want to check out the YouTube video, do that. While you’re there, subscribe to the channel and you can get all of the episodes and other content that I produce through my YouTube channel.
Thank you for reading. I’ll give you one final plug in terms of the external folks. If you’re looking for someone to help you with your succession planning process, it’s something that I work with my clients on a regular basis. You can contact me on my website, ConstructionGenius.com/contact. We can have a quick chat about if or how I can help you, but regardless of whether or not you ever contact me, you can go and get that free download. You’ll find that framework to be tremendously helpful. Thank you for reading. I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode, and I will catch you on the next one.
Important Links
- YouTube – Construction Genius Podcast, Eric Anderton
- Exit Strategy Experts: How to Structure and Execute a Transition to the Next Generation – Past Episode
- ConstructionGenius.com/free-succession-planning-guide
- ConstructionGenius.com/contact
