The Four Super-Heroes of Succession Planning
Dave Specht spoke this afternoon at the AICPA Ag Conference on succession planning and I thought I would share his four “super-heroes” of succession planning.
- Mr. Immortal – He is the farmer who thinks he will never die and is never ready to pass on the farm to the next generation. Trying to tell him that this is a good thing and needs to be done will likely not go anywhere.
- Dr. Shhhh – Is the farmer who never communicates his/her intentions regarding succession. They may know what they want to do, but it never is verbally communicated.
- Oblivious Man – Is the farmer who is so focused on growing the farm that (s)he does not see any of the real issues going on with kids, spouses, etc.
- Ms. Realty – Is the glue that holds the farm/family together. Likely the person that strives to get the succession process going, etc. (I had asked if there was a Mr. Reality and Dave indicated he had not found one yet).
I am guessing that every farmer who is reading this blog may fall partly or fully into one of these super-heroes. There are certain ways of addressing each of these super-hero types, but that is beyond the scope of this blog post.
Dave has written a couple of books and if you are interested in finding more information regarding this, please click here.
Paul Neiffer is a certified public accountant and business advisor specializing in income taxation, accounting services, and succession planning for farmers and agribusiness processors. Paul is a principal with CliftonLarsonAllen in Walla Walla, Washington, as well as a regular speaker at national conferences and contributor at agweb.com. Raised on a farm in central Washington, he has been immersed in the ag industry his entire life, including the last 30 years professionally. Paul and his wife purchase an 180 acre ranch in 2016 and enjoy keeping it full of animals.
Thanks for writing about my presentation Paul. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Great being with you at the conference!!