Just weeks ago the leadership of the Crystal Cathedral, a Christian ministry founded by Robert H. Schuller back in the 60s, filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in the California courts. The leadership of the church, which broadcasts every Sunday morning to over a million people worldwide, has claimed that the financial troubles resulted from the economic challenge of the past two years and the inability of the Church to respond with enough budget cuts fast enough. It is more likely, however, that the very ugly succession fiasco that occurred within the leadership in 2008 is the cause of the financial difficulties and the leadership vacuum in the church.

What would happen to and within your business or practice in the event of some unexpected emergency or disaster? Can you quantify your risk? Do you know what kind of internal or external threats could cripple your company?

What kind of emergency could cripple your company?

For the past couple of weeks many people have been watching the news coming from AIG. For investors, the recent news has been mixed: a significant sale of a division that could enable the company to pay back much of its remaining debt to the U.S. Government and the word that CEO Robert Benmosche has been diagnosed with cancer.

We have been referring to American studies of family businesses for months. Most were consistent in finding that about 60% of family owned businesses have no succession plan in place. The more recent study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers demonstrates that this is neither an American phenomenon nor a listing ship that is making progress righting itself.

I continue to be surprised by the number of business owners and partners who believe they do not need to be concerned about maximizing the value of their firm or with succession planning yet.  The truth is that succession planning forces owners and partners of firms to focus on value drivers. When you work on a succession plan, you work to maximize the long-term value of the firm. But all of this attention to management, value drivers and maximizing the long-term value of the firm also has powerful short-term benefits that affect both short-term value and short-term profitability of the firm.

It appears that the Buffalo Bills are teetering on the edge of catastrophe. A recent article in The Street points out that Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. (owner of the Bills) is now 91 years old and without a succession plan. What is he thinking?

No matter which side of the issue resonates with you, the recent firing of HP CEO Mark Hurd despite the absence of a successor has left a huge leadership gap at the very top of the HP organization. Many opinions of the actions of the Board of HP in firing Hurd are tied to either the sexual harassment charge or with the misrepresentation of costs for his rendezvous with the woman in question.

About 35 years ago, after a divorce, a young mother of two sons decided to take the divorce settlement and use it to start a business. She also wanted to ensure that her sons would be cared for and provided for in the event of her death, so she had a will drawn up by her attorney. In it she stipulated a 50/50 split of all assets between the two sons. Feeling confident that she had done everything necessary, she set about making the business a success.

Twenty years ago, Barb and Jesse, brother and sister, decided to pool their inheritance from their grandfather and go into business together. They had great fun starting and managing a successful business for the last 19 years.

Everything was fine until Jesse lost everything in a Ponzi scheme when the stock market tumbled last year. He came to Barb and explained his predicament: His retirement savings was gone, the money he had been putting aside for the kids’ education was gone, and he faced foreclosure. Barb’s retirement investments took a beating, as well, but she had enough left to try to rebuild her nest egg.

Nobody wants to talk about death, disability or divorce. These are three life events that can impact your plans and the future of the business you own. In fact these are the three events most people think of when the subject of succession planning or buy/sell agreements is raised. But, as I said, nobody wants to talk about these possible events. So, let’s talk about something else.

Let’s talk about the other events that could affect your business ownership, your future, your family, your business partners and the continuity of the business itself. All of these are at risk if you don’t write and fund a comprehensive succession plan or buy/sell agreement. The first thing you need to understand is that these events – the ones people tend to overlook – are far more likely to be the reason you need a succession plan than death, disability or divorce. Without a succession plan, these things could grow from hiccups in the firm’s growth to catastrophes.