{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Rethinking Succession in Family Business with Josh Baron","description":" The Enlightened Family Business Podcast Ep. 165: Rethinking Succession in Family Business with Josh Baron   In this episode of the Enlightened Family Business Podcast, host Chris Yonker sits down with Josh Baron \u2014 Harvard Business School faculty member, co-founder of Banyan Global, and co-author of multiple Harvard Business Review works on family enterprise \u2014 for a rich, deeply practical conversation on the topic that never gets old: succession. Josh has spent 20 years advising family businesses and teaching at Columbia and Harvard, and what he keeps finding is that families don\u2019t fail at succession because they chose the wrong person. They fail because they never built the right process. Together Chris and Josh explore why a family business CEO who\u2019s been in the seat for 30 years is not facing a job change \u2014 they\u2019re facing an identity crisis; why the how of succession is more important than the what; the critical difference between conquerors and rulers and why the next generation doesn\u2019t need to look like the founder to be the right fit; how to use the arc of succession \u2014 assets, roles, and capabilities \u2014 as a planning framework; what happens when the founding generation leaves and the next generation discovers they have no one to resolve their disputes; and why working backwards from the far future is one of the most effective tools for getting a reluctant founder to engage. They also dig into the four ownership models used by successful multi-generational family businesses and why the question isn\u2019t just who should run the business \u2014 it\u2019s whether the family should have a business at all. Episode Chapters \u00b7       3:56   Meet Josh Baron \u00b7       5:13   From Bain to Banyan: How Josh Found His Way Into Family Business \u00b7       8:00   Why Succession Is an Evergreen Problem \u2014 and Always Will Be \u00b7       10:12  What the Rising Generation Is Really Feeling \u00b7       13:12  Why G1 and G2 Struggle to See Each Other Clearly \u00b7       15:39  When Is the Right Time to Start Succession Planning? \u00b7       16:05  The Arc of Succession: Assets, Roles, and Capabilities \u00b7       20:48  Succession Is a Process, Not an Event \u00b7       22:11  The Danger of the One-Winner Moment \u00b7       24:33  Why Every Generation Needs a Different Kind of Leader \u00b7       27:50  How to Help a Founder Embrace What Got Us Here Won\u2019t Get Us There \u00b7       30:00  Grafting: How the Next Gen Should Introduce New Ideas \u00b7       31:30  Working Backwards: The Most Effective Tool for Reluctant Founders \u00b7       35:35  What Happens When the Founder Leaves and the Glue Disappears \u00b7       38:00  Should We Even Have a Family Business? The Question Nobody Asks \u00b7       40:19  The Four Ownership Models and When Each One Works \u00b7       46:09  The How Is Greater Than the What \u00b7       49:06  When to Get Outside Help \u2014 and Why You Always Need It \u00b7       53:31  Resources and Farewell   Websites \u00b7       hbs.edu (search Josh Baron) \u00b7       banyanglobal.com \u00b7       chrisyonker.com   Book & Articles \u00b7       The Founder\u2019s Final Act \u2014 Harvard Business Review, September\u2013October 2025 \u00b7       Search \u201cJosh Baron HBS\u201d for the full catalog of published work   About Josh Baron Josh Baron is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, coauthor of the Harvard Business Review Family Business Handbook, and a cofounder of BanyanGlobal Family Business Advisors. ","author_name":"The Enlightened Family Business Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/thesecretthoughtsofceospodcast.libsyn.com\/website","html":"