Professor Elam

Most introductory economic textbooks note that sole proprietorships tend to die with the owner. The reason si that the proporietor is usually too stubborn to find a suitable replacement, groom the successor, and then step aside. Alas, this is the end of may a great franchise. To wit, here are some examples.

Paul Harvey, who was news radio virtually by himself, died this past week at age 90. Paul had a son cleverly named Paul Harvey Jr.  Not a good second act name frankly…While he ocassionally substituted for Dad, not the same thing.

No one built a better organization than Billy Graham who finally in his eighties noticed he had a son named Franklin. Franklin had to find something else to do. Interestingly he moved the entire organization from Minnesota to South Carolina recently. A big loss for Minnesota. Harvey McKay who wrote How to Swim with Sharks without Being Eaten says Graham's organization is one of the finest in terms of productivity and organization he has ever seen.

Finally Richard Russell has over 10,000 subscribers to his Dow Theory Letters, and at age 84 writes daily. But Ricahrd did not find a successor declaring of course that no one else understands Dow Theory like he does. Well swell, but looks  like he will be taking that one to the grave. After a mild stroke, he recently decided to find an heir apparent. wanna guess who?  A hedge fund manager, finance professor, or stockbroker, nope, his son Ryan whose most recent job was running a San Francisco restaurant which I supposed closed in the downturn. Do you think the 10,000 will want to read what son Ryan has to say, Dad wrote the letter since the 1950s. Perhaps but it will be hard to work up a track record in a short time.

My point being that you should be wary of someone who says he or she wants someone to come in and take over as they retire, most retire only when they go toes up….