Research Findings

The 6 factors

Based on my MSc research and my current findings, these are the factors that are needed to enable a successful emotional and psychological transition between a founder and their successor.

My definition of successful transition was when the transfer of both ownership and leadership of an initiative or organisation has already happened, including the transfer of power and the source role. In other words, I considered the handover a success only when the founder had emotionally let go of their power, their role as source, and had moved away from managing their original project, so their energy was available to focus elsewhere.


  1. The founder's willingness and readiness to let go

If they are not willing or ready, succession will not happen. I found the other 5 factors to be needed to enable the founders' willingness and readiness develop over time.


  1. Natural flow of exchange (aka love, for the courageous)

"When two people were engaged in a relationship, which is mutually fulfilling and enriching, without coercion, simply voluntarily, they were able to transfer their initiative between them in a loving and caring way."


  1. Values alignment between the founder, their initiative and the successor

The founders were looking for the same values/needs present in their successor when selecting them.


  1. Successor willingness and motivation

There are 2 parts to this: the successor's career aspirations and commitment; and their readiness and preparation.


  1. Founder's relationship with the initiative

When they founder was 'separate' and had temporary nature to their relationship with the initiative, this has enabled founders to let go easier. When their identity was fused with their project, they found it much harder to let go. Mitigating factors were high emotional and social intelligence and reflective practice.


  1. Successor selection

When a successor was not chosen, it was not obvious or it was chose by someone else (not the founder), succession didn't happen. When the successor was an obvious, emerging choice by the founder, it happened easily.