Timothy R. Clark: Succession planning in a family business

The wisest founders I know realize that it’s rare for a child to step in and run a business with the same passion and drive that fueled the parent. Yet it’s common even for those founders to provide the opportunities to their children that they, themselves, never had, and in the course they are overly benevolent. How, then, do you re-create that same level of hunger and determination in the next generation? In family businesses, we often see the entrepreneurial fire dim in the second generation as an unintended consequence, because the success of the business is not the earned success of the children.

My advice: Invite the children to go away, earn their own success and then fill out an application.

Timothy R. Clark is the founder of TRClark LLC, a management consulting and leadership development organization. His newest book, "The Employee Engagement Mindset," has just been released from McGraw-Hill. Email: trclark@trclark.net