Next Generation Institute (NGI)® Succession Planning

What if you could speak to your family — your next generation successors — with complete candor, helping them finally understand what it means to you to turn over the family business you founded, or were the steward of, over so many years of your life? Could you begin to visualize and plan for your next chapter? Are you ready for that?

And what if you are a potential successor to the ownership and leadership of that family business? Filled with ambition one day, reluctance and unanswered questions the next? Can you talk to your family about these matters? Who has the answers? What about the questions you don’t yet know to ask?

We do. Begin your family business transition journey with us.

2024-25 Virtual Session Dates: January 7, January 21, February 4, March 4, March 18, April 1, April 29
Time: 9:00 A.M. – 11:00 A.M.
2024-25 In-Person Session Dates: November 19*, December 10, February 18, April 15, May 13**
Time: 7:30 A.M. – 1:00 p.m.

*November 19 session is from 8:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. **May 13 session is from 1:00 p.m. – 6:30 P.M.

The Next Generation Institute™ is for owners and leaders of family businesses, their successors, and other family members who may or may not work in or have ownership interest in the business. The program shines a light on the issues that most do not anticipate in a caring, supportive environment, while equipping the family to take action when they decide the time is right.

Regional experts, supported by seasoned family business mentors, will help you navigate the transition of ownership and management using our proven approach to succession. In an engaging, hybrid format, we will cover 12 critical topics that span three phases of succession planning. The fourth phase – to act on your plan – begins when the family is ready.

Align

• Session 1 - Find Community
• Session 2 - Learn to Communicate
• Session 3 - Gain Consensus

Discover

• Session 4 - Explore Governance
• Session 5 - Build Your Team
• Session 6 - Educate Shareholders
• Session 7 - Assess Readiness

Empower

• Session 8 - Create Redundancy
• Session 9 - Build Value
• Session 10 - Get A Game Plan
• Session 11 - Make the Deal
• Session 12 - Take "Ownership"

Participants will take the Goering Center's Member Alignment Profile (or MAP Assessment) to establish your organization's degree of alignment relative to the 10 Best Practices of Successful Family and Private Businesses. Individuals will also take the Myers Briggs Type Indicator assessment to facilitate the work we do relative to improving communication. Finally, we will explore your company's ability to withstand the founder's exit without compromising enterprise value.

Throughout the program, we will assemble the critical information needed by a successor in The President's Book, a confidential document that captures the key relationships, accounts, and agreements governing the business, along with the family's succession action plan.

Sessions are taught by experts in family business governance, transition planning, finance, tax, law, communication, business continuity and the dynamics of families in business together. We also feature guest speakers from regional family businesses who want to share what they learned through their succession experience.

Experienced volunteers serve as mentors to your family and generational peer groups formed through the program, ensuring the content is relevant and actionable.

Transition Guides help families transition their family business from one generation to the next. The term “transition guide” has been coined over decades of administering the Next Generation Institute (NGI)®, and it is a useful term to describe the person, hired by the family, to lead the body of work required for the change of ownership and management of a family business.

Learn more about our transition guides and access a guidance document for families to use when interviewing someone for the role.

Offered annually, this is a hybrid program consisting of 12 sessions: eight are virtual, lasting for two hours, and four are in-person and a half day.

Virtual sessions are livestreamed from a professional recording studio and leverage Zoom breakout rooms for both family and small peer group discussions. In-person sessions include time for discussion over breakfast and lunch with your family or peer groups and provide the opportunity to build relationships with other family businesses. The virtual sessions help accommodate busy schedules and enable families to include those who travel or who are based outside Greater Cincinnati. Participants are expected to attend all 12 sessions if possible, but all virtual sessions will be recorded for those with scheduling conflicts, and for participants' ongoing reference. In-person sessions are not recorded.

(G1: current owner, G2: potential next generation successor)

Member
One G1, one G1 Spouse – no charge, and one G2: $7,500
Additional Member G1 or G2: $2,500 each

Non-member
One G1, one G1 Spouse – no charge, and one G2: $9,000
Additional Non-member G1 or G2: $2,750 each

*Primary G1 spouse included in base tuition. Max: 20 companies participating

For more information on the Next Generation Institute™, please contact David Miller. View our 2022 Next Generation Institute Overview here.

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