When you have an inventor personality, you hand over the reins to your successor, but you reinvent yourself by taking up a new position either at the business or outside of it. For example, you can set up a new division or, if you are more comfortable being further away, you can join an association connected to the industry, but with no direct ties to the business now controlled by your successor. Some inventors even launch a completely new business venture—and not necessarily in the same sector as the one that they have left behind.

Key issues for the inventor

  • (+) By reinventing yourself, you create a new role for yourself (either at the business or elsewhere), and this gives your successor enough room for maneuver.
  • (-) Under the pretext of creating new business opportunities, you can leave the business too early, and this can have a detrimental effect on the transfer process.

What will the transfer of your business look like?

  • You leave your position as managing director of the parent company to create a new business or to play a supporting role in an association connected to your industry.
  • You will favor a transfer within your family or an employee buy-out if your new duties have a direct connection to the business that you are leaving.
  • You may prefer a transfer to a third party if your new business pursuits are not directly connected to the business that you are transferring.

Your maxim

Transferring my business is an opportunity to reinvent myself.

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