As Hard as You Try, You Can’t Teach Calculus to a Squirrel

 

As we thankfully put 2020 in our rear-view mirrors, I went back reviewed the quantity of webinars and articles we put forth in this very atypical year and I was at the same time both heartened and dismayed.

Heartened by the fact that our production bordered on prodigious, with nearly 30 CPE presentations including those at many of the major industry conferences and more than a half-dozen articles for the top accounting publications.

Dismayed by the fact that as hard as we tried this year, some people just do not get it when it comes to succession planning – and likely won’t. Ever.

Of the hundreds of PowerPoint slides and thousands of words, there was not one session or article that encouraged succession procrastination – not one. Yet on more than one occasion over the course of this year it sometimes felt like I was presenting a calculus syllabus to a squirrel. And sadly, with the same results.

Case in point.

I was working with a firm in the Northeast. The firm had two partners, ages 76 and 69. That enough was cause for concern, amplified by the fact that each wanted to work five more years. I tried to imbue them with the realities of the current marketplace that very few firms would be flexible about a timeline like that. Then, also among their list of demands was a sizeable down payment. Another no-no in this climate.

I somehow managed to convince two of our buyer clients to meet with them and one of the larger firms in the area requested a second meeting.

Perfect. At least there was a dialogue until the futile pedagogy of the calculus and squirrel kicked in.

Late last week I received a call from the older partner who admitted that the meeting went well and revealed that he received a request for some basic financial information. Then, after all we teach, all we preach and all the absurd ideas and foolish wish lists we try to impeach, he tells me he wants to put his succession strategy off for another year. Which means we pick it up when he turns 77.

I point blank asked him to show me where in our presentations it stressed that procrastination was a sound strategy.  

Silence.

I explained to him about the dwindling valuations, the glut of seller firms that will surely follow the end of the COVID-19 quarantine and the fact he will be one year older but with zero results. And the sad part about it is that he’s hardly an outlier in that thinking.

Here's hoping that the New Year will bring him new sense or at least some sense.

And with that, here’s wishing all of you a happy holiday and a prosperous 2021.

Hopefully one that includes proper succession planning – and without a mask.