🎯 How to plan your exit and leave an impact

Holiday greetings, readers! What are you looking forward to in the New Year? 💭 I’m looking forward to kicking off a new newsletter series all about hosting events for executives. But before we turn the page on 2024, it’s time to bring this series to a close with a look at the final phase of my Activation Approach: Succession & Impact.

Building something you love, like a business or a community, takes up so much of your time, energy, and resources. During the heavy duty building and growth stage, it is a thrill to be fully immersed and seeing quick results.

Over time, though, you may start to feel that you’re ready to move on. 🤔

Whether it’s been twenty years since you started or just two, when you start to feel called towards something else or notice that you’re not able to give it your all, it’s important to recognize that. Moreover, it’s important to plan for your succession, a.k.a. the exit strategy that allows your initiative to sustainably continue on and grow without you, making a lasting impact.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you to quit at the first feeling of discontent. I’m referring to your gut telling you it’s time to move on. 

Here’s the thing: depending on your role, industry, or the nature of your initiative, “moving on” may not happen for years after you’ve acknowledged your readiness to do so. The larger and more complex your involvement, the longer it’ll likely take to successfully move on.

Succession is just as important as every phase we’ve talked about in the newsletter up until now.

Did you know that I’ve moved on from three different successful businesses? Below, we’ll talk about how I knew it was time, and how I planned for my departure.

Business No. 1: A coworking space + online community

🚨 My signal it was time to go: I wanted to focus on planning and launching my second business.

🤔 My concern in the moment: I didn’t want to leave my members feeling abandoned since they were such an integral part of growing the business. I was also worried about affecting the branding of my second business, since it was built on being a new location for this first business.

💡 My solution: I sold the business to an existing member whom other members all knew and loved. He rebranded the business, thus removing the connection to the new one I was opening, and kept operations the same -- except with the added flair and TLC that comes with a new operator.

Business No. 2: A twice-as-big coworking space + online community

🚨 Signal: I wanted to focus full-time on my third business, which was much more profitable and allowed me to be fully remote.

🤔 Concern: This second space was a much bigger operation, so I needed a seasoned operator to hand it off to. Our members were also used to having the best community experience and customer service, and without keeping that up, we’d lose our ‘Best of’ award and members would start to cancel.

💡 Solution: We sold the business to another coworking space operator who was known in the industry for valuing community as much as we did. We held a ‘Town Hall’ meeting for all our members and explained our reasons for the sale, walked through the transition process, and made sure we were there for them every step of the way during the transition. We had an understanding with the new operator that the community focus must be the foundation of the business for the life of the company.

Business No. 3: A tech company that functioned like an Airbnb for workspaces

🚨 Signal: After seven high-growth years of operation (and scaling to 20 countries), I was ready for the next thing. I had also moved to Miami and felt the need to start a new chapter.

🤔 Concern: I was great friends with my co-founders and had built close relationships with our employees.

💡 Solution: I was honest with my co-founders that I craved another challenge. I presented my exit plan to them and spent three months implementing it. I had a one-on-one call with every single employee (~25 at the time) because we had grown so close. Everyone was grateful for how meticulous I was in wrapping things up on my way out. This ensured continuity and zero disruption.

Looking for a detailed approach or deeper learning? 🧠 
Check this booklist 📚 (Disclaimer: I have not read these myself):

• Who Comes Next?: Leadership Succession Planning Made Easy

• The Succession Solution: The Strategic Guide To Business

• An Insider's Guide to Succession and Exit: Beyond the Financials: 10 Powerful Principles for Transitioning Your Business

If you’re not quite sure where you’re at yet and just feeling stuck, here’s one that may be able to get you unstuck: Reset 📖

🛑 What if you’re not actually ready or even thinking about moving on, but know you want to leave a lasting legacy?

I have a terrific example for how you can create your legacy while still in your role.

Laura Zelenko is an executive at Bloomberg who recognized a glaring issue: only 10% of Bloomberg’s outside voices (people who are interviewed on Bloomberg) were women.

Laura recognized that for Bloomberg to truly have balanced, accurate, and complete news coverage, they needed diversity in who they invited to appear on Bloomberg to talk about finance. That’s why she created the New Voices program, which sponsors media training for female financial leaders. In just three years since launching the program, they have:

👏🏽 Tripled the representation of female voices on Bloomberg TV
👏🏽 Sponsored media training for 600+ executives
👏🏽 Created a global database of 9,300+ diverse sources across business and finance

Now this is how you intentionally plan your legacy: by creating something needed that will continue to grow the business, rather than launching something that just seems like an added expense, or something your colleagues can’t justify maintaining once you depart. (To learn more about the program, check out this post.)

Let’s wrap up this newsletter with some food for thought.

First, remember that a movement isn’t built overnight.

⏳ It took more than 70 years for women to gain the right to vote (in 1920), more than 40 years for apartheid to be repealed in South Africa (in 1994), and more than a decade for the #MeToo movement to hit the tipping point and go viral (in 2017). So while we’ve accelerated our ability to spread information, rally people around a cause, and make an impact — it can still take years or decades to truly make a mark.

Something to watch is how Pamela Anderson is currently taking a stand by attending red carpet events without makeup. 🙅‍♀️ While she can't guarantee the impact of her actions, she continues to share her journey openly on social media, earning widespread applause for her stance against the unrealistic beauty expectations placed on women.

Next, take a lesson from activism and aim for what activists refer to as a ‘keystone change.’

🎯 A keystone change is something that resonates with many people and allows you to rally broad support. When a keystone change is achieved, it gives you immense credibility, visibility, and the support to go on and tackle a much bigger issue.

• For example: Prison reform activist Bianca Tylek focused on the exorbitant and extortive costs of phone calls to and from incarcerated individuals. This was something most people were upset about once they learned about it. In 2021, as a result of the efforts by Bianca and her partners, Connecticut was the first state to let incarcerated people make free calls, saving their families $14 million a year. After such a significant win, Bianca was able to raise more funds and take on larger challenges.

Last (and it needs to be strategic and handled with finesse), challenging the status quo can often be a path to massive impact when done right.

• If you’re looking to ruffle some feathers and not only challenge the status quo, but change it, take a page from Miki Agrawal’s approach to advertising. She not just entices, but almost seduces people into change.

• A tip I loved from Gautam Mukunda, one of the most straight-and-narrow resumes I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing, was that the most creative and innovative leaders are often the most effective. They can actually create long-term change, but to follow in their footsteps, you may need to break the rules.

Stay tuned for the first newsletter of 2025, where I’ll begin to share my secret sauce for hosting intentional, high-impact events for executives.

See you in the New Year!
Nicole

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