Without a solid succession plan, even the mightiest family business can crumble - a truth that Netflix's new series House of Guinness brings vividly to life. Set in 1868 Dublin following Sir Benjamin Guinness's death, the drama portrays four children, each concealing personal secrets, locked in conflict over the brewery's fate. Though dramatised, the core message resonates powerfully with modern enterprise. 

Dr Nan Jiang, a family succession specialist at Brunel Business School, knows this challenge intimately. Through years of dedicated research and her work guiding business leaders on the government-funded Help to Grow: Management Course, she's witnessed first-hand how crucial it is to the ongoing success of an SME. Here, she shares her essential advice for ensuring smooth leadership transitions: 

1. Honouring Legacy While Driving Change 

Tradition versus progress - it's an ongoing friction through much of the drama in House of Guinness, and it's a familiar flashpoint when leadership passes between generations. However, the key for successful family businesses is to draw strengths from both, rather than pitting them as opposites.  

The challenge lies in empowering new leaders to pursue the innovation needed for competitiveness - exploring emerging technologies, fresh markets, and untapped opportunities - whilst ensuring the foundational values and brand heritage remain intact. 

A proven approach is to bring successors into strategic planning conversations years before they assume control. This early involvement helps them understand that their future bold moves aren't departures from tradition, but natural extensions of an ongoing journey. 

Timpson exemplifies this balance. Now six generations deep since its founding 150 years ago, the family business welcomed its latest generation in 2023 to begin their leadership preparation. The Timpson Group has transformed dramatically over time, growing to more than 2,000 locations across 20 different businesses - from dry cleaning operations to digital photo services. 

Yet through every expansion and pivot, one principle has remained constant, prioritising people and 'doing things the right way.' This commitment gained national recognition in 2024 when James Timpson became Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, a role reflecting the company's ground-breaking efforts in employing former prisoners. 

2. Cultivating Successors Over Time, Not In Crisis  

House of Guinness dramatises what happens when leadership transition becomes a scramble - when no single heir has been adequately prepared for the responsibilities ahead. The reality for businesses of any scale is that effective handovers require years of groundwork, not last-minute arrangements. 

Future leaders need substantial time embedded in the organisation before taking charge. This prolonged immersion serves multiple purposes - it allows them to absorb the company's distinctive culture and operational intricacies, establish their own leadership identity, and earn respect across the organisation well ahead of their formal appointment. 

When successors spend years working alongside the business, they also organically develop vital connections with major clients, strategic partners, and veteran team members. This kind of relational capital that often determines whether an organisation thrives or merely survives. 

Consider Cathal O'Rourke's journey at Laing O'Rourke Group. Before assuming the CEO role from his father and founder Ray last year, Cathal spent a quarter-century learning the business from within.  

His preparation included more than ten years leading the company's Australian operations, followed by a stint as chief operating officer. Ray himself acknowledged that this extensive apprenticeship equipped Cathal ideally to steer the business forward whilst preserving its foundational values and principles. 

3. Credibility Beyond The Family Name 

A high-profile surname - Guinness included - guarantees neither respect nor effective leadership. Both the workforce and customers need to witness competence demonstrated, not merely inherited. The departing leader holds significant responsibility here, establishing clear role definitions, creating visible progression routes, and helping the entire organisation embrace the incoming vision. 

The Specsavers story under John Perkins illustrates this fantastically. Though the son of co-founders Doug and Mary Perkins, John constructed his professional foundation elsewhere first. He earned his credentials as a chartered accountant with Deloitte before entering the family enterprise in 1998. 

He then climbed through the organisation on merit - immersing himself in UK retail operations, collaborating with international divisions, and advancing through positions including commercial director. His trajectory included board membership from 2003, joint managing director status in 2007, Group CEO in 2015, and ultimately sole CEO more recently. 

This comprehensive journey allowed John to establish his capabilities and authority on merit, not familial connections.  

4. Mastering The Art Of Letting Go 

Stepping aside may well be the most essential - and emotionally challenging - element of succession. It's a topic that frequently dominates sessions between SME leaders and their dedicated business mentors on the Help to Grow: Management Course. 

When founders or long-standing leaders linger too prominently, they risk casting shadows that diminish their successor's confidence and credibility. Transitioning to a more removed position, such as Chairman, offers a solution - maintaining connection to the enterprise they built whilst creating the physical and psychological space necessary for genuine leadership transfer. 

What matters most is authentic relinquishment of control, genuinely empowering the incoming generation to stamp their own identity on the business and chart their own course. The departing leader's function evolves from decision-maker to advisor, offering perspective when sought rather than direction when unsought. 

The sports industry provides an instructive case study through Matchroom Sport and the Hearn dynasty. Barry Hearn, the dynamic entrepreneur who transformed snooker, darts, and boxing promotion, deliberately initiated his withdrawal during the 2010s, transferring operational command to his son Eddie.  

Barry's ascension to Chairman preserved his presence and institutional knowledge within the organisation, whilst ensuring Eddie held complete authority over daily operations and strategic direction. 

The Final Word 

Successful succession should be viewed as an evolution spanning years. It requires careful preparation, the cultivation of trust, and ultimately, the courage to release control.