Your Foundation to Exit
Ten 120-minute 1-2-1 sessions, split across two stages. Stage One builds the strategic foundation; Stage Two constructs the organisational capabilities your exit actually depends on.
Stage One — Foundation
End in Mind
How are you going to exit? What's your end plan in terms of revenue? What options are on the table? What are your buyer's motivations?
X to Y by When
Outlining your exit strategy and action plan: what needs to be done, including KPIs and milestones.
The Ultimate Goal
What the exit looks like for you, your family, and your leadership team. Succession planning starts here.
Thief of Time
YOUR job description: getting a handle on your time management and delegation so you're only doing what only you can do.
Solid Foundations
Creating the right organisational structure for your growth plans — identifying skills gaps, people gaps, and matching behaviours to company values and ethos.
Stage Two — Capability
Building on the Foundation
Recruiting, retaining, and engaging the right people. Development plans and progression pathways for each division.
High Performance Where It Counts
The right people in the right SLT seats. Five Behaviours in place. Progression and succession — managing expectations.
Starting the Cascade
Communication between teams and team members — ensuring every team is as effective as the SLT and has development plans in place.
Right First Time
SOPs for growth; quality control and customer service; certification — ISOs and Investors in People.
Wider Horizons
Technology, automation, staying at the cutting edge, and showcasing industry leadership that attracts buyers.
Everything you need between sessions
10 × 120-minute 1-2-1 sessions
- Working on each of the 10 Foundations to Exit
- Directors and shareholders can join if needed
- Meeting notes following every session
- Suggested "homework" to support action
Regular check-ins
- Every week, or every second week
- Holding you accountable to maintain progress
- Short, sharp — keeping momentum between sessions
Unlimited Laser Calls
- 15 minutes; one problem
- Fixed in the here and now
- Whenever you need it
By the end of the programme, you will have:
Strategic clarity
- A clear understanding of what your exit will look like — financially and personally
- A strategy and action plan with KPIs and milestones
- A plan for life beyond your business: your personal off-ramp
- Confidence and skills to begin to step aside, step up, or step away
Succession & leadership
- A strategic leadership succession plan
- Organisation charts for the next 3 years
- Hiring strategies and timelines to fill SLT gaps
- Cascading plans for whole-company learning and development
Operational excellence
- Outline policies for staff recruitment and retention built on your values
- Enhanced communications between key players and teams
- Validated Standard Operating Procedures for key business growth elements
- A strategy to showcase your business future to potential buyers
Carri Nicholson — The Leader Whisperer®
Carri Nicholson
This is not about theory. Carri has founded or co-founded 7 businesses and personally exited 4 — "some better than others" — and has learned something new about herself and about exiting each time. She has been the second-generation COO in a family-owned global consultancy (experiencing generational succession planning from the sharp end), a "hired gun" CEO, and a British Army Reserves Officer. She is the Founder member of the Scottish Centre for Family Businesses and has supported clients through 5 smooth generational transitions of leadership and 5 successful exits.
Are you a C-Suite Executive rather than a business owner?
Exit Optimized™ C-Suite is a tailored variant of this programme for senior leaders exiting an executive role — with a different focus on legacy, corporate communications, succession, and your personal next chapter.
See Exit Optimized™ C-SuiteYou will never know until you take your first step.
Book a free, no-obligation Exit Audit and explore what an exit on your own terms could look like — and what it would take to get there.