“After Me, the Flood”: The Cost of Avoiding Succession Planning

Human beings are the only species acutely aware of their own mortality. We know life is finite, and we’re haunted—sometimes quietly, sometimes urgently—by questions about what comes after. For leaders, particularly founders of family businesses, this awareness eventually brings a sobering realization: their productive life will be shorter than the life of the project they once birthed and led.

Handled with care, this moment offers a chance to leave behind a legacy others can sustain, nurture, and grow. But that outcome depends largely on one thing: a founder’s willingness to engage—early, intentionally, and with discipline—in a structured succession process. This means identifying and developing the individuals who will step into leadership, whether when the founder steps down or simply transitions into a governance role, such as a board member.

Few leaders and organizations dedicate the time and focus this process deserves. Some manage to patch together the bare minimum—often through clumsy or improvised efforts—that help, at best, to ease the transition. But many do worse.

Too many founders bury their heads in the sand, hoping to evade discomfort by avoiding the topic altogether. They act as if death or departure will never come. And when it inevitably does, their teams are left adrift—unprepared, unaligned, and vulnerable. The consequences are often severe: disruption, division, even threats to business continuity.

In family businesses, this dynamic is compounded by a reluctance to have tough conversations or legally document decisions about succession and inheritance. That silence leaves heirs confused, exposed, and prone to conflict—issues that foresight and responsibility could have prevented.

This kind of negligence, which I’ve witnessed more often than I’d like to admit, brings to mind the phrase that inspired this article’s title: Après moi, le déluge—”After me, the flood.” Attributed to King Louis XV of France, it reflected a disregard for the long-term consequences of leadership—a disregard that helped set the stage for the French Revolution.

Avoiding succession planning—whether out of fear, discomfort, or distrust—puts everything a leader has built at risk. It’s a dangerous formula for collapse.

That’s why the final chapter of a founder’s journey holds such power: it’s a chance to lead with generosity, to shape the future with intention, and to protect the legacy of the work they’ve poured their lives into. Failing to do so doesn’t just endanger the organization. It shapes how they’ll be remembered.