What to do before you turn out the lights

There are many kinds of exits. There are corporate exit strategies, career exit ramps, and exit interviews. But do you have a personal exit strategy? No, I don't mean how you intend to die. I mean, if you are leading an organization and leaving it because you want to or have to.

Here are some tips on how to disappear. Here is what you need to know before selling your startup.

The realization usually starts when you get messages on social media about the people who have died in your high school class, or you read about high profile, overexposed former CEOs who left and then had to return to rejuvenate their baby's falling stock price.

Jeff Bezos, in the style of Bob Iger at Walt Disney, will come back to lead Amazon.com after the stock’s 50% drop last year, he reckons. “Jeff Bezos spent 27 years at Amazon and has been gone for less than two. In 2023 he pulls a Bob Iger and returns to steady the ship,” says Batnick.

It's not the only Amazon that needs to be saved.

Hidekazu Yokoyama has spent three decades building a thriving logistics business on Japan’s snowy northern island of Hokkaido, an area that provides much of the country’s milk.

Last year, he decided to give it all away.

It was a radical solution for a problem that has become increasingly common in Japan, the world’s grayest society. As the country’s birthrate has plummeted and its population has grown older, the average age of business owners has risen to around 62. Nearly 60 percent of the country’s businesses report that they have no plan for what comes next.

This is also important if you are leading a not for profit and decide it is time to disappear and hand the baton to the next person. Before you do that, though, I'd suggest you have the following three pieces in place:

SUCCESS: Is your organization poised for ongoing success? Is the business model VAST or does it need to be changed?

SUCCESSION: Do you have an organizational succession plan? How do you future proof your organization?

FINANCIAL and MISSION SUSTAINABILITY: Are there the necessary funds and other resources to sustain your non profit in perpetuity?

Don't have people humming this tune at your funeral.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs