Sons or daughters do not typically assume leadership of a family firm at a particular moment in time. Instead, a long, drawn-out process of preparation and transition is customary—a process that extends over years and often decades. Figure 7-4
on page 182 portrays this process as a series of stages in succession.ls
PREBUSINESS STAGE In Stage I, a potential successor becomes acquainted with the
business as a part of growing up. The young child accompanies a parent to the of fice, store, or warehouse or plays with equipment related to the business There is no formal planning for the child's preparation for entering the business in this early stage. It simply forms a foundation for the more deliberate stages of the process that occur in later years.