The owner of a mid-sized construction firm I know decided it was time to hang up his boots and sell to a team of his managers. So he anointed a successor - a talented project manager in whom he saw many of his own successful traits.
The problem? The heir apparent lacked a crucial skill - the ability to generate new business. Instead of looking elsewhere to fill that gap, the owner kept pushing his favored successor to become something he wasn’t. Eventually, their relationship fractured under the pressure and the exasperated owner sold the company to a third party at a knock-down price, giving up his goal of maintaining the family name on the company’s door.
As this anecdote shows, succession planning can be one of the most dangerous blind spots for leaders in the construction sector.
