While at the Corporate Connections conference in Toronto, one of the facilitators brought up how certain companies had started to fail when their founding CEOs had stepped down or taken a less active role in the company.  Some recent examples include Dell and Starbucks. And who isn’t watching Microsoft more closely now given the departure of Bill Gates?

While fresh leadership can be a good thing, sometimes a required thing, it’s evident that the process of transferring it is a complex and significant undertaking.

I often dream of both a infinite future with Carceron, and, of a very different future where someone better, smarter and more innovative than I takes the reins of the company (I think we have those people working for us right now, by the way). While it may look like a proverbial “fork in the road”, it really isn’t – is it? After all, an “infinite future” is nothing more than staying on the same endless “interstate” – and so long as the ride is enjoyable, the customers are happy and employees are happy, who cares? I say enjoy the ride! But every once and a while those “exit ramps” appear, and you can’t help but wonder:

What would I be doing if I weren’t running this business right now? What if I started another business doing ___________ ? What would my business would look like a month after I’m gone? 1 year after I’m gone? 5 years?

And if the company did start to fail, would I come back to save it? As Michael Dell did? – Which I think really speaks to the question: “What does this business mean to me?”

I can tell you that the answer to that question has changed many times over the years as Carceron has grown… and will continue to change in the years ahead. I can’t help but feel that when that meaning ceases to change – ceases to evolve – the exit ramp will look more tempting.I’m not sure why I feel that way. It seems illogical that “the meaning of my company to me” must continually evolve or else I look for greener pastures – but there it is.

In Michael Dell’s case, we could safely assume that “legacy” might be his reason for returning to Dell. With a company as large as his and with so many people working for him, it’s an answer that is as easy understand as it is sincere.

Legacy might be what drives small business owners to stay in a business longer than they should, but I suspect it to be other things.

What’s yours?

Tags: carceron, chad massaker, Corporate Connections, dell, michael dell, running a business, starbucks, starting a business, what does my business mean to me

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