What if the exit planning conversation you've been avoiding is actually the one that unlocks your next level of revenue?
In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Mark L. Vincent — founding member and facilitator of the Sage Group Collective, executive advisor, and one of the most experienced guides for organizational succession and business continuity in the game.
With more than 30 years of helping owner-founders, C-suite leaders, and partnership structures navigate succession events, Mark brings a rare combination of systems thinking, facilitation mastery, and unflinching honesty about what actually drives enterprise value — and what destroys it.
Here's what you'll learn by watching or listening to this full episode:
• How to reframe succession planning as a growth accelerator — not an end-of-career conversation that kills momentum
• How to shift from vendor to peer-level trusted advisor — and why that single positioning move transforms what you're able to charge
• How to introduce exit planning into existing client relationships without damaging trust or getting off into the weeds
• Why most founders overestimate the value of what they've built — and how great advisors navigate that conversation productively
• How to build a future value balance sheet that makes a succession event actually executable instead of a scramble
• Why documenting leadership philosophy before a transition prevents massive value loss — and the simple interview method that surfaces it fast
• What Mark calls the "invisible suitcases" founders leave behind — and why successors keep tripping over them
• How to build a trusted advisor network where referrals flow both ways — and the one phrase that immediately reveals whether someone is a real partner or a wedge waiting to happen
• Why anxiety is silently killing coaching and consulting practices — and how managing your own ecosystem is the prerequisite to being a non-anxious, client-centered presence
• Which two strategic partners — capital wealth advisors and operations implementers — are the most critical additions to any advisor's trusted network
Find all the show notes and links here: https://www.businessbuildersplaybook.com/Mark-L-Vincent