Poised for Exit

Reluctantly Resilient: Tools for Building Resilience in Transition

Julie Keyes Season 1 Episode 199

Reluctantly Resilient: Tools for Building Resilience in Transition

Author and CEO, Chrissy Myers joined us today on Poised for Exit. Chrissy's experiences in family business transition (her own) coupled with the services she delivers for business owners made for a very interesting interview!  


Chrissy's family firm is 50 years old. She bought it in 2019, but had worked various positions in it before and after college. After the sudden death of her husband and then her father, she found herself in need of help in more than one way. Her mother, still an owner, took the leadership reins for the family by 'telling' Chrissy they had to seek counseling together so that their transition would be successful for the business as well as for their relationship, so they did. It was a game changer that Chrissy still appreciates today. "Reluctantly resilient" is how she felt throughout the process of the transition; she was mourning big losses and having to deal with big decisions with the business at the same time. Reluctantly, she kept moving forward, calling upon her own skills in resilience to do so. 


Her take on having a successful family business transition requires a great deal of flexibility from each owner; being stuck in your ways serves no one. The other essential belief or behavior is in having a Growth Mindset. A Fixed Mindset creates the empasses that keep families from carrying on a successful legacy. Chrissy said that being OK with taking a risk vs staying stuck is liberating and opens the door for learning and growth. 


You learn more about her story and lessons learned by reading her book here 


Connect with Julie Keyes, Keyestrategies LLC
Founder, Consultant, Author, Pod-caster and Instructor