which is common — a professional advisor who can facilitate safe and respectful communication should become involved. “People need to have boldness and courage to face hard conversations and work as afamily unit to create solutions, share emotions, reach out and adapt, and put themselves in the other person’s shoes,” says Froese. In some cases, founders may have preconceived ideas about the outcome without asking the successor about their solution. For example, a founder may be hesitant for a woman to run the farm because they are concerned about how she will balance raising children and performing farm tasks. In reality, the successor has a plan for childcare that the 30 founder has not thought about because having a nanny or going to daycare was not their experience. Froese sees financial management as causing a lot of friction in families. She strongly encourages young women in agriculture to focus on and improve their financial literacy. As a potential successor, it is important to understand the different types of debt, how much the farm can service, and what is needed for family living expenses. While some families in frustrating situations will be able to move ahead with farm transition, that will not be the case for everyone. She suggests the book “Necessary Endings” by Dr. Henry Cloud for young people who are feeling stuck trying to work through succession. continued from page 29 “Regardless of gender, if you have a fear of failure and you don’t trust that the next generation can make good management decisions, you need to talk about that and figure out what the learning plan is to bridge those gaps,” advises Froese. To start moving forward, she urges potential successors to first explore the fears of the older generation. Crediting the book “Why Don’t You Want What I Want?” by Rick Maurer, Froese explains that pushback can come from intellectually not understanding, not liking how it feels, or a lack of trust. Is the founder’s resistance coming from their head, heart or gut? If a family cannot work through these emotional conversations on their own —
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