Getting a Shot: Most people would think twice about a life change as different as oil and water. Taking Stefan Soloviev’s idea of jumping from the agricultural industry to suddenly taking on real estate projects in New York involves a monumental shift in priorities as well as personal acumen. However, when that business shift involves a current industry leader handing over the reins to the same operation, it tends to motivate people to step up to the challenge.
Few are afforded such an opportunity, and fewer still succeed in pulling off the transition. Instead, businesses built over decades by one leader typically fall apart or splinter when passed down to that leader’s children versus given to an experienced successor.
However, sometimes there are exceptions.
Stefan Soloviev, for example, has proven to be cut from a different path as the successor to his father’s development firm portfolio, one that Sheldon Solow, has been in place successfully growing since 1960. Another example would be the Trump siblings, clearly maintaining and running the Trump industries while their father was President and doing so without bankrupting the company in question. Getting a Shot
For the younger successors in question, the shift tends to be a personal mantle acknowledgement. The parent is typically well-established in their chosen industry and has built a company over the years as a result of strategy, partnership, risk ventures, and pooling capital together for big investment payoffs. Getting a Shot
Getting a Shot
Of course, familiarity with the industry to succeed makes a big difference. If, on the other hand, one were to be in a completely different field, the challenge of taking over would be compounded with also learning the ropes in a whole new field of business as well. Fewer candidates are able to do both.Getting a Shot
Additionally, candidates throwing in cold from another world also have to experience a culture clash. It’s almost similar to being taken from the wide-ranging open space of the Southwest deserts and being able to get around in a robust Dodge Ram pickup truck, to now suddenly finding one’s self compacted into the rush and hubbub of Gotham’s cement world of high-rises and congested streets.
A person’s character and resilience become tested entirely in such a transition, and at the same time, everyone is watching and waiting for a failure to happen. In fact, one could probably compare such a family takeover to running for an election seat as the underdog; you become a shock to the system if you actually have a reasonable chance of winning the vote.
Many assume that family proteges are practically handed everything with a silver spoon. The reality is, that they get one opportunity nobody else in the competition gets to enjoy, a first seat at the table without a fight. After that, the proving ground demands everyone performs or gets washed out. However, for some candidates, all they need is one chance in the first place.
