Exit Right was written for business people, not academics. It’s a quick and easy read—perfect for a long flight or a leisurely weekend. It may be the most valuable time you’ll spend on your succession planning process!

Exit Right leaves the technical detail to the technical experts. It’s focus is on the “big picture” providing business owners and advisors with a simple step-by-step process which ensures that all of the key issues are addressed and all of the parts come together in a harmonious whole. The result? A succession plan that effectively serves the owner, and the family and the business.

Exit Right contains seven chapters, each devoted to one of the key issues that you’ll have to address in your succession planning:

• In Chapter One, Your Second Dream, you will explore your vision for your future and what financially it will take to realize your dream. Your answers to these questions could have a major impact on all the other decisions you will make.
• In Chapter Two, All in the Family?, you will explore your family members’ personal visions and visions for themselves in the business. These explorations will suggest who wants to work in the business, own the business and how family/emotional issues might be handled.
• In Chapter Three, Aligning the Business, you will explore your company’s strategic plan and the steps the business must take to support your personal dreams and those of your family.
• In Chapter Four, Preparing Your Successors, you will consider how you might go about preparing your successors for their future roles in the family business — as executives or as owners.
• In Chapter Five, The New Leader, you will explore the issues related to choosing who will succeed you in the leadership position.
• In Chapter Six, The New Owners, you will consider the business and emotional issues surrounding the transfer of the company’s ownership.
• And finally, in Chapter Seven, Building Your Legacy, you will explore how estate-planning issues can impact the entire succession planning process.

Each chapter identifies several key questions you’ll need to answer and underlying issues you’ll need to address as you proceed. Each topic concludes with a series of questions to guide your exploration of the issue and some suggested action steps you can take to move your process along.

A tool for professionals

Exit Right is an excellent resource for accountants, lawyers, bankers, insurance and investment professionals looking to develop the broad perspective of the family business advisor. Many have bought copies to give to their clients to kick-start the succession planning process. Volume discounts are available on request from the authors.

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