Setting the Table for the Next Generation The Sharpen Podcast

Sean Miller, Chairman of the Miller Group, dives into succession planning, values-based business leadership, and how to set a company's next generation of leaders up for success in this insightful conversation with Acumen CEO Dan Cooper.
Episode Summary
0:06-0:56
Dan Cooper introduces himself and his guest, Sean Miller, who recently transitioned from CEO to Chairman of the Miller Group in Kansas City. He sets up listeners for today’s topic: succession strategy, especially in the context of a family-owned business, and setting the table for the next generation.
0:57-7:14
Sean Miller describes his insurance and employee benefits company and its history and services. He speaks to the recent transition in leadership to his niece, and recounts the story of his own unwilling transition into leadership, alongside his brother, when his father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. After briefly considering selling the company, Sean and his brother brought the business through many iterations before working with The Table Group to connect the organization deeply with its values, mission, and purpose. This transformative process changed the culture radically. Ever since, the Miller Group has consistently ranked as the Best Place to Work for their business size in Kansas City. Sean attributes much of this to the consistency of the business’s values, which are maintained by retaining leadership within the family.
7:15-16:45
Dan clarifies that there are two different parts to Sean’s transition puzzle: leadership and ownership.
Sean agrees and focuses in on the leadership piece. His niece, Amber, came on board about 10 years ago and was quickly identified as a manager and leader, so Sean began handing her assignments. This included their smallest practice, the personal lines practice, which was marginal, not bringing in much revenue, and run by a problematic employee. Amber increased the revenue by 500% over three years, made it a profitable practice for the organization, and let go of the problematic employee. She proved she was able to identify and address challenges, so she was moved on to the next tricky side of the business, and then the next! She made all the right moves wherever she went, learning along the way and instilling the Miller values and culture.
Sean began bringing in other leaders to support, and when he intentionally began to do less and less, he watched Amber rise to the occasion. He is proud to say she is respected for her merits and accomplishments far beyond her ownership of the Miller name, which isn’t enough in a family-led business. Family businesses, Sean asserts, are tricky; you aren’t just managing a business, but unique and complicated interpersonal relationships as well. He shares how the family members in the organization are able to have their own lanes, and talks about how he worked to transition some of his pieces over to others during his movement out of the CEO seat. Ultimately, he and his brother transitioned in a structured, intentional way that retained customers and processes successfully.
16:46-17:39
Dan summaries the best practices Sean put into place during the transition: mentorship, trusting the successor with challenges, accurately identifying the areas of high potential while also moving the successor from area to area for practice, and ultimately removing the previous CEO from his seat as the “hub”of the organization.
17:40-21:18
Dan asks about the heart piece of Sean’s transition: how did he know, in both his head and his heart, that it was time to transition?
Sean shares that his executive team and the Miller family had a strategic planning meeting about 5 years ago when everyone wrote down on a card where they wanted the company to be, in terms of their revenue, in 10 years. Both he and his brother had put smaller numbers than anyone else, indicating that their interest in growth had deeply waned. This told him it was time to hand things off to the next generation! He also