Half of my leadership team wants to sell the business in three years, while the other half wants to build a generational legacy company, resulting in split priorities during our V/TO® planning. How do we align the team when their personal timelines for an exit are completely at odds?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When your leadership team is split between wanting to sell the business and wanting to build a generational legacy company, your long-term strategic alignment is broken. This division will quietly sabotage every major decision you make, from capital expenditures to technology investments. You cannot run a cohesive company with two completely different destinations on your V/TO®.

As the owner, you must ultimately decide the ultimate vision for the company. This is a Visionary decision. Once you have made your choice, you must present it to the leadership team with absolute clarity. If your decision is to prepare the company for an exit, then every member of the leadership team must align their Rocks and energy toward building that exit-ready superstructure.

If certain leaders realize they cannot commit to a three-year exit timeline because they want to stay with a legacy business forever, you must help them transition out of their seats gracefully. It is entirely normal for people to step off the train when the destination changes. Address this openly during your quarterly planning sessions and help them exit with dignity.