TALSOM

AT SUMMIT OF MINDS

Tactical Teamwork
for Smooth Succession
AGENDA

Activity Report From

« The Tactical Teamwork
For Smooth Succession »
By Talsom

At Summit of Minds,
Charlevoix, Canada

November 16th, 2019

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 During that themed dinner, par-
ticipants were invited to nimble
intergenerational cooperation
to isolate specific business
transition issues and generate
original ideas. To do so, Talsom
was invited to facilitate for more
than 50 of them around one
objective: “Ensure businesses
succession for generations to
come”.
Why this objective ?
Simply because succession
is inevitable and numbers are
SUMMARY speaking of the importance
to take this situation in consi-
deration. We need to keep in
mind that family business from
Quebec and Canada represent
85% of all businesses, 60 % of
the GDP and 50 % of all the jobs
in the country. It was also dis-
cussed during the evening that
30% of family business leaders
will leave their seat vacant over
the next years.
 As a reminder, we presented
that for the first time in bu-
siness history, we observed that
the pool of prospects fit for
succession, in the realm of
family businesses, is not very
interested to undertake that
path; indeed, only 6% of college
graduates are inclined and moti-
vated to choose that career ave-
nue. Derived from the era of new
technologies, this new genera-
tion enjoyed a more advanced
education in comparison to
the past generation, which was
more consisted of self-educated
and self-made founders.
 To Talsom, it’s mandatory to
establish the essentials of the
vision of the business and of
its future evolution. A shared
view and a defined common
ground will foster the business
sustainability throughout the
generations. To persue this
vision of the business family
we proposed to answer three
questions around the following
themes:
Define, Imagine, Execute.
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 Ensure Businesses
DINNER
Succession For
OBJECTIVE
Generations To Come

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 WHY THIS
OBJECTIVE? Succession is
ENSURE BUSINESSES SUCCESSION
Inevitable
FOR GENERATIONS TO COME

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 Define
HOW ?
Imagine
Execute

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 How would you define a
DEFINE smooth business family
succession ?

How can business

IMAGINE succession become an
attractive venue for the
youth ?

EXECUTE Where do we start to

ensure that smooth
transition ?

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RESULTS

Next pages represent clusters

from all ideas and answers
given during the dinner based
on qualitative and quantitative
analysis by questions that were
asked.

The results are obtained subjec-

tively considering the richness
and quantity of discussions
during the dinner. Unfortunately,
all of the information shared
between participants could not
be captured.

The categories make it pos-

sible to obtain some trends, but
should require more in-depth
research to guarantee a bet-
ter understanding of business
family reality.

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 50 Participants

3 Questions

2 Hours
DINNER IN
NUMBERS
1 Objective

357 Original ideas

towards effective
solutions

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Define
HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE A SMOOTH
BUSINESS FAMILY SUCCESSION ?
From next and senior generations points of view.

Give education from a younger age

Interest
Prepare in a better way both generations

Accept changes and new perspectives for the business

Vision
Share values and interests

Get outside the office

Communication
Develop relationships and dialogue

Allow projects from next generation

Integration
Respect all parties involvement

Make time and work longer together

Opportunity
Keep in mind opportunities for all genders

Identify moments when founders/seniors are ready to let go

Generations Support next generation who wants to work in the business and
current generation who is able to let go 11
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Imagine
HOW CAN BUSINESS SUCCESSION BECOME AN
ATTRACTIVE VENUE FOR THE YOUTH ?
Considering what matters for the youth.

Accept advices from new generation and give them a voice

Participation Allow them to make changes
Expose them to the business and employees

See what matters to them (climate, technology, social impact, community, AI)
Future
Set goals with them

Learn together
Teamwork Give the freedom of choice, no dictating

Communication Share stories

Co-create what can be

Creativity
Let their creativity go and accept new ideas

Clear path to ownership (between siblings)

Ownership
Give them the choice if they want to continue or create their own path.
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Execute
WHERE DO WE START TO ENSURE
THAT SMOOTH TRANSITION
Empowering people on opportunities and working on blindspots.

Start at early age or in advance, when next generation is in teenage years

Education
Allow all family members to know themselves well

Go anywhere, anytime, everywhere, everytime together.

Outiside the office
Learn from each other on a personal aspect

Know each individual inspiration

Inspiration
Ask for their dreams

Start in the family circle, tell your stories

Passation
Accept to leave the place as an owner

Show openness and transparency

Love
Give love and compassion

Allow them to experiment

Experimentation
Give them their chance to start a new chapter
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 LEARNINGS

Communication — Develop relationships and show openess

Team — Work together and learn from each other

Education — Start from an early age and learn from errors

Vision — Share values and interests, consider each others goals

Change — Let creative ideas come up, allow experimentation

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FIVE ADVICES TO FACILITATE THE INTEGRATION OF
FUTURE GENERATION WITHIN THE BUSINESS

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 THANK YOU

The great success of this Summit of Minds edition is a reflection of the ded-
ication and enthusiasm Business Families Foundation display on a continual
basis. Talsom was pleased to be invited this year and would like to thank all
the organisation for the inestimable work.

Because of their support, we met inspiring people and were able to better un-
derstand their reality. As results, we discovered and created solution paths to
start that smooth succession between generations. Talsom’s contribution was
a resounding success, but we couldn’t have done it without Business Families
Foundation, Olivier de Richoufftz and his team.

We look forward to work with you again.

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CONFIDENTIALITY
NOTICE

This document is intended for the

exclusive use of TALSOM.

Its content is confidential and subject to

the obligation of professional secrecy
64 Prince St.

Montreal (Quebec) H3C 2M8

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F +1 514 227 5465

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