Business VALUE is critical to our Future

Posted by Charles Richards on June 8, 2009, 8:10 PM EDT

Private businesses are the backbone of our communities and the US economy. 

Small businesses are the foundation of our job base, generate new jobs, ideas and drive innovation. Our communities are defined by the businesses that operate in them, and most of them are private. If we ponder but a moment it is clear that private businesses are the economic engine behind all we value. The problem is the engine is at risk.

It’s not one of the risks we normally worry about – offshore competition, interest rates, or recession – it’s the risk of transfer. Six million private companies drive our economic engine, the vast majority owned by baby boomers and the generation in front of them, and most of them cannot be transferred. Many will simply close when the owner retires as most are really nothing but good jobs for the owners. They are not economic assets that can be sold or transferred to the next generation. At risk are not only the retirements of the owners, but also the jobs, the communities that depend on them, and our children.

There are two views of the future. One based on the belief that we can transfer the economic wealth locked up in private companies. It looks promising and exciting. The other based on the reality that most private businesses have little value to transfer. We all know the story of the owner who must control everything, will die at the desk and who’s bottom-line is their paycheck. It is the story of the majority of private companies. It is the story of companies that are jobs, not assets, with little chance of being sold. On the individual level this is a tragedy as it is their largest asset, on the macro level it is a potential disaster.

What if we could change it? What if the majority of private companies could be transferred successfully without lost jobs and each became an economic engine. It is possible. The good news is we have the opportunity today to make that happen. We have the opportunity to help owners understand the importance of value. We have the opportunity to help them build businesses that are economic engines, creating value for themselves and their communities. We have this opportunity because there is a proven structure and process to make it happen. 

Working together we can change the equation, change the outcome. The majority of private companies can become assets if we get the message out. Our experience has proven that owners that act like owners build companies of value. If we help owners understand they are owners first, that value is critical, then we can change the future.

Chairman’s View is about getting the message out and showing owners it is possible if thye understand the critical role of Chairman. CV has engineered a process that works 90% of the time in the hands ofa trained Chairman Advisor. The future is not bleak for owners. We believe it is critically important to start today to ‘turn the lights on’ and show owners what’s in front of them. To show them there is a solution to the challenge. There are time-tested processes that work, and it starts with taking the Chairman’s View and adding disciplined corporate structure.

Private businesses will continue to be the backbone for generations to come if we the media, advisors, educators and experts work together to ‘turn the lights on.’