Dahlke - Business succession planning for dummies

Business Succession Planning For Dummies

by Arnie Dahlke

Business Succession Planning For Dummies

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Copyright 2012

Published simultaneously in Canada

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ISBN 978-1-118-09514-0 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-22346-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-23021-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-23023-7 (ebk)

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About the Author

Arnie Dahlke has a PhD in psychology from the University of Minnesota. Over the years, he has taught full time in both psychology, business, and organizational development departments, served as a director of research for the American Institutes for Research, and worked as an independent consultant.

Arnie has assisted both private (for-profit and nonprofit) and public organizations, using coordinated team-building strategies and process-improvement tools. He brings people together in a spirit of mutual trust, cooperation, and constructive problem solving. As described on his website ( www.arniedahlke.com ), he helps people in organizations cultivate both continual improvement and customer-responsive mindsets.

Arnies private-sector clients have included larger corporations, such as Chevrolet, Saturn, Coca-Cola, Gelsons: The Super Market, and Northgate Market; healthcare facilities, such as counseling centers and Northside Hospital; smaller organizations, such as the law firm of Ferruzzo & Ferruzzo, Able Computer, New Media Broadcasting Company, The Party Staff, and Your Staff; and automobile dealerships representing a variety of franchises, including Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Infiniti, Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Toyota. His work has helped companies win national awards. As a consultant to the Human Interaction Research Institute of Westwood, California, he conducted interviews in California, Missouri, Nevada, Texas, and Utah at local community mental-health centers for the purpose of identifying the factors that go into the sustaining or non-sustaining of innovative procedures in organizational settings.

Arnies public-sector clients have included both cities and county departments. He has assisted city- and county-management staff, police departments, libraries, and planning and public-works departments in such cities as Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, Santa Ana, San Bernardino, Santa Rosa, and Torrance, California.

Throughout his career, Arnie has kept alive his love for teaching. He has taught courses and seminars in psychology, organizational behavior, and organizational consulting. He has taught at all levels, from adult students to college freshmen to graduate students at many colleges and universities, including Antioch University, the California School of Professional Psychology, Marymount College, Phillips Graduate Institute, Ryokan College, the University of California, the University of Maryland, the University of Minnesota, the University of Nevada, and the University of Oklahoma.

Dedication

I dedicate this book to all employees, because their morale and futures are dependent on the quality and successful implementation of succession plans in their organization.

Authors Acknowledgments

I appreciate the help of everyone who has helped me put this book together. It has been an exciting, although somewhat exhausting, experience, and its taught me that you never know how much you know until you start putting it down on paper. I was surprised to find how much I know.

A special thank-you first to my brilliant in-home editor, my wife, Lesli, who pays attention to the slightest detail and improves what I do in subtle but dramatic ways. She has tirelessly supported my efforts through thick and thin, including very long hours spent writing.

I also want to thank Erin Mooney at John Wiley & Sons for giving me the opportunity to write this book; Ken Lloyd for his insightful comments and technical suggestions; and Elizabeth Kuball for her patience, helpful suggestions, and meticulous editing.