This week, Roger Lynch announced he’s leaving Condé Nast after seven and a half years to run Mattel. Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, and now Barbie.
I spent a good part of my career in the magazine business, so I read his goodbye memo the way some people read box scores.
Here’s what jumped out at me. Condé Nast is a family business. The Newhouse family owns it through Advance Publications. And when the CEO walked out the door, nobody was waiting in the hallway to take his place. The board is starting a search.
But they did have something: a lead independent director, Mike Perlis, who could step in as interim CEO the next morning.
Now think about your family business. If your top person left on Friday, whether for a new job, a health scare, or because they were simply done, who would run the company on Monday?
In most of the family companies I work with, the honest answer is: “Well, my brother-in-law knows where the checkbook is.”
That’s not a plan. That’s a hostage situation.
Family business succession doesn’t start with naming the next CEO. It starts with three smaller questions:
- Who steps in temporarily?
- Who has the authority to make that call?
- Does everyone in the family already know the answer?
If you can’t answer those over coffee, you’ll end up answering them in a crisis. Usually in a lawyer’s office. Usually billed by the hour.
Condé Nast will be fine. They have a board, a bench, and a building at One World Trade.
You have a group text.