The Farm Whisperer: Secrets to Preserving Families and Perpetuating Farms
By David Specht, with Taneil Specht
Advising Generations LLC
If you’re comfortable with whatever plan the government might have in store for your farm business in the event of your untimely death, or if you don’t care whether the farm stays in the family, of if you’re totally confident that your kids will just “figure everything out” after you’re gone, then don’t bother to read this book.
If, on the other hand, those scenarios set your teeth on edge, then picking up a copy of The Farm Whisperer: Secrets to Preserving Families and Perpetuating Farms might be a very good idea.
Read Also
Ground rules for farm family communications
Establishing meeting ground rules can help your family find ways to communicate that work for your farm. Here are some…
The Farm Whisperer is a short and snappy 134-page read — ideal for a rainy (or snowy) afternoon. It’s a great introduction to help you start thinking about the processes your family and business need to follow to get on the right path to generational continuity.
Yes, the book is written in an American context, and yes, author David Specht is director of the Global Family Business Institute at the Drucker School of Management, but it doesn’t take long for Canadian readers to see how his thinking applies north of the border too.
Specht says his priority is to help “families to stay families, while perpetuating their business legacies.” To do this, he walks his clients (and readers) through a process designed to “ask the right questions, pursue the appropriate conversations and implement the best solutions for you personally and for your farm.”
Key to identifying the right questions is knowing more about the person who’s being asked the questions. Through his work with farmers and ranchers from all over the United States, Specht has identified four “superhero archetypes” that neatly characterize how most farmers feel about business continuity and succession planning.
Captain Immortal has “convinced himself that (death) is years away, so investing time in planning … is an irrelevant task.”
Dr. Shhh, by contrast, does have a plan, but he enjoys developing it in the private confines of his own mind. After all, getting the family involved would mean “relinquish(ing) control and information before it’s absolutely necessary.”
There’s also Oblivious Man. He’s so busy working today that he doesn’t have time to consider or plan for the future. In other words, says Specht, he’s “laying the foundation for confusion, chaos and conflict for his family.”
Finally, there’s Ms. Reality, who has a strong drive to succeed personally, but is equally aware that she needs to help make long-term plans for her family and farm.
Do any of these sound familiar? For all of us, the answer is probably yes, and Specht not only leads us on a deep exploration into what’s really behind their behaviours but also offers a set of prompts to help these superheroes overcome their respective kryptonites.
It’s a type of deep dive that can also help farm owners think and talk about future growth of their farm businesses, and it can set them up to develop continuity plans that will benefit the family for years to come.
Specht also offers advice to the next generation, including what they should ask before returning to the farm.
Furthermore, he cautions parents that everyone would be best served by open dialogue. That means instilling an attitude of ownership from an early age, providing children with opportunities to make meaningful business decisions and, perhaps most importantly, recognizing that the parents’ dream might not be their children’s.
Another crucial aspect of farm continuity gets highlighted too. Often, there’s a gap in how different people on the farm think about the future. That gap can be between the generations, of course, but it can also be between spouses.
There’s only one cure, Specht writes: “Families that set aside time to discuss the business and the goals for the family will increase their likelihood of success.”
To help identify and fill gaps, Specht’s Generational Business 360 process evaluates seven themes: business and estate planning, communications, leadership development, trust, personal resilience, retirement/investment planning, and key non-family employees.
“Each family has unique issues in its generational transfer situations,” Specht writes. “But you can identify the strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in perception …(to) increase the likelihood for success. Focusing on working through these challenges with all family members is key in the preservation of America’s most precious asset, the family farm.”
