Letting Go

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Craig E. Aronoff

   Pages 1-4

3. You Don’t “Have” to Retire (but Is Hanging On Worth the Price?)

   • Craig E. Aronoff

   Pages 5-16

4. Whose Decision Is It Anyway?

   • Craig E. Aronoff

   Pages 17-21

5. Taking People Hostage

   • Craig E. Aronoff

   Pages 23-25

6. Make It Easy on Yourself

   • Craig E. Aronoff

   Pages 27-44

7. The Supporting Cast

   • Craig E. Aronoff

   Pages 45-53

8. Exit Laughing

   • Craig E. Aronoff

   Pages 55-63

9. The Post-CEO Role

   • Craig E. Aronoff

   Pages 65-76

10. What If You Choose to Hang On?

    • Craig E. Aronoff

    Pages 77-82

11. Summary

    • Craig E. Aronoff

    Pages 83-85

12. Back Matter

    Pages 87-94

    PDF

Letting Go helps family business owners and CEOs make the decision to begin succession planning. It provides new ways of thinking about giving up control of the family business and explores practical strategies for preparing, managing, and carrying out the decision to do so.

• business
• family business
• planning
• strategy
• success

'Craig Aronoff is one of a handful of practitioners who really understand that family business, when done right, brings far better results to our economy and society than do non-family widely-held businesses. The conclusion then is that healthy family enterprises are worth perpetuation from generation to generation. Perpetuation involves transition in which a critical element is the willingness of the senior generation to give up control. In Letting Go: Preparing Yourself to Relinquish Control of the Family Business, Aronoff has provided a thorough reference and motivational document to help the various players through the process.' -John F. Bitzer, Retired CEO, Abarta, Inc., USA

'Craig Aronoff's book, Letting Go: Preparing Yourself to Relinquish Control of the Family Business, offers quite a revelation to those of us who are in the position to relinquish a family business to the next generation. The process does take time and as the senior members of the family live longer these days, and the next generation will live longer still, the points of the book are that much more important to read and understand. As with Dr. Aronoff's previous books on family businesses, I will be sure to add this one to my reference library.' - Jack Cakebread, CEO, Cakebread Cellars, USA

'While each volume contains helpful "solutions" to the issue it covers, it is the guidance on how to tackle the process of addressing the different issues and the emphasis on the benefits which can stem from the process itself which make the Family Business Leadership Series of unique value to everyone involved in a family business - not just the owners.' - David Grant, Director (retired), William Grant & Sons Ltd, UK

CRAIG E. ARONOFF Co-founder, Principal, and Chairman of the Board of The Family Business Consulting Group, Inc., the founder of the Cox Family Enterprise Center and current Professor Emeritus at Kennesaw State University, USA. He invented and implemented the membership-based, professional-service-provider sponsored Family Business Forum, which has served as a model of family business education for universities world-wide.

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