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Clarke Building and Supplies Limited was a multi-generational family-owned building supply and contracting company headquartered in the western region of the island of Newfoundland, Canada. After the death of the company’s founder and chief executive officer, it fell to the founder’s son to take the helm of the company. With his engineering background, this son noticed inefficiencies and lax controls within the company. He was especially worried about the possibility of a more tightly run national store entering the market and outcompeting his family’s business. Complicating any decision to tighten operations was the community culture of the business, which included many long-time employees, friends, and family members. He could see that there were issues in the company, but he lacked the business acumen and distance to separate symptoms from causes and develop a plan to keep the company healthy and strong for generations to come. He knew he needed to achieve buy-in from the managers so he could implement any solutions he devised.

Clarke Building and Supplies Limited was a multi-generational family-owned building supply and contracting company headquartered in the western region of the island of Newfoundland, Canada. After the death of the company's founder and chief executive officer, it fell to the founder's son to take the helm of the company. With his engineering background, this son noticed inefficiencies and lax controls within the company. He was especially worried about the possibility of a more tightly run national store entering the market and outcompeting his family's business. Complicating any decision to tighten operations was the community culture of the business, which included many long-time employees, friends, and family members. He could see that there were issues in the company, but he lacked the business acumen and distance to separate symptoms from causes and develop a plan to keep the company healthy and strong for generations to come. He knew he needed to achieve buy-in from the managers so he could implement any solutions he devised.

In 2017, the chief executive officer (CEO) and chair of the board for DSM Industrial (DSM), a family-owned business in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, was considering his retirement. The company had been started by his father in 1964, and the CEO had worked there since he was 20 years old. Now he was planning on retiring within the next few years. However, he needed someone to take over the top-level management of his family's commercial and residential construction business along with his roles as CEO and board chair. The company had many highly capable senior people with unique skills and vision-some were members of his family and others were long-time senior staff. If he chose an outside successor, would morale at the firm be affected? Would long-time employees leave? His successor needed technical skills to lead the company and maintain the culture. The decision was complicated by changes in the construction industry, the differing visions of senior management for the future of the company, the need to placate the needs of other family members, and the recent interest from outside parties in the possible purchase of DSM's related companies. How would his family react to a sale, and how would the culture that he had invested so much time and effort in creating fare in the face of new ownership? Did his two positions need to operate separately? How would they interplay with one another? How could he solve his succession dilemma?

In 2017, the chief executive officer (CEO) and chair of the board for DSM Industrial (DSM), a family-owned business in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, was considering his retirement. The company had been started by his father in 1964, and the CEO had worked there since he was 20 years old. Now he was planning on retiring within the next few years. However, he needed someone to take over the top-level management of his family’s commercial and residential construction business along with his roles as CEO and board chair. The company had many highly capable senior people with unique skills and vision—some were members of his family and others were long-time senior staff. If he chose an outside successor, would morale at the firm be affected? Would long-time employees leave? His successor needed technical skills to lead the company and maintain the culture. The decision was complicated by changes in the construction industry, the differing visions of senior management for the future of the company, the need to placate the needs of other family members, and the recent interest from outside parties in the possible purchase of DSM’s related companies. How would his family react to a sale, and how would the culture that he had invested so much time and effort in creating fare in the face of new ownership? Did his two positions need to operate separately? How would they interplay with one another? How could he solve his succession dilemma?