As a business owner, you’ll be faced with many different kinds of challenges and questions throughout your career. One question that might always be at the back of your mind is what your legacy might be, or what the legacy of your business might be. What is your business going to look like after today, after tomorrow, or after 10 years?
Building a business legacy starts when you begin your journey from just being a successful business to becoming a significant business. A business legacy doesn’t just focus on financials, but also looks at the Three Legs of the Stool™. The concept of Three Legs asks you to consider three important factors in your life, which are your business, financial, and personal legs. Aligning these three legs in a holistic way makes it easier to work toward creating your personal, community, and business legacy, too.
Another important factor is knowing where the business might be headed, and figuring out how to match your vision for the company to your goals for it. A good first step is planning out and writing down your business’s mission and values. Knowing what you want you and your business to be remembered for is a great guide for decision-making. Record your concise and direct mission statement in an easy-to-find place for every party, including your employees and partners. You want your mission to be heard. Get those eyes on it.
If you want to grow your legacy, you must implement strategic business goals to keep your focus. These goals will be on a daily, weekly, monthly, and five- to 10-year scale to give a good impression of your vision. The question is, how can a CEPA® help you build out these goals in a measurable way?
Well, the CEPA will harness the Value Acceleration Methodology to create the framework of questions. These questions will help guide you as you build out these goals as the CEPA walks you through the three gates of the Value Acceleration Methodology, which are:
As you approach your potential exit, you might be thinking of your personal legacy too. Big life changes can be overwhelming, especially as questions about your future are at the top of your mind. Thankfully, you’re not alone. Talk to your CEPA with these questions in mind:
Something you should also think about at this time are how your business’s four intangible capitals are functioning. These are human capital, structural capital, customer capital, and social capital. Reviewing these intangible capitals can give you a good look at the culture of your business, and how you might be remembered as a leader in the space.
As you consider your culture, you might also want to think about your potential exit options insofar as a generational transition, too. If you want to pass your business down to your child or another family member, it is important to have these discussions with them now rather than later. Does your child or family member want to take over? While a personal legacy can feel abstract, a CEPA can provide a clearer guide using the Value Acceleration Methodology.
Another part of your legacy can also be the community impact of your business. You should be taking this time to consider what role your business has potentially played in your community. Do you want your business to have this role, and, if so, how can you make sure your vision is clearly communicated as you transition through your exit?
This question will be especially relevant if your business has or has had some kind of philanthropic element. What is most important during this process, is having that open line of communication with your CEPA so your company’s mission is aligned with all that value you created during the Value Acceleration process. Your strong culture, measured by the intangible 4Cs, is particularly important if you’re thinking about community impact.
Your legacy will manifest in different forms, based on your values, your perspective, and your goals. Making those goals come to fruition is made possible through strong relationships and communication with your employees, your partners, your peers, and your CEPA.
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