Joan Berta

Joan Berta CMC (Certified Management Consultant)

In over two decades of consulting with businesses, the number of businesses, particularly family businesses, who have not addressed "the succession issue", flabbergasts me. Today, lenders of all stripes are investigating the breadth and depth of management and what kind of succession plan is in place. If the key members of the ownership/management team are nearing 50 years of age, they want to meet the next wave of management and understand their capabilities and intentions to take over the business. If the necessary plans, processes and controls are not in place, the business will have an increasingly difficult time in securing and developing an appropriate financing structure.

This single point is why I concentrate my work on

facilitating the understanding of why the business exists - what is it supposed to accomplish for the owners. This is a key point for all businesses, regardless of the age of either the business or the owners.
working with business owners to identify the process for successful succession planning;
identifying and clearing up any conflicts, whether they be among family members or non-related partners;
assisting the owners in developing the plan for managing the process.

So why is this my passion? Everyone who starts, buys, or inherits a business has a dream. Family businesses have a 30% success rate in getting through the second generation successfully. How many families are negatively impacted by this? Not simply the 70% failure rate, but the many families involved, close to three times the actual number of failures, because the second generation usually involves multiple "partners", be they siblings of the parent founders or siblings of non-related founders. If the economy is to be better for all of our children, yours and mine, someone needs to help you be successful. I will.