The Succession Trap: Leadership Pipeline Failure at Dunmore Family Enterprise

A family company's founder is retiring. No one is ready. Two siblings are positioning. Key executives are updating resumes. The board called you.

Duration

65 min

Difficulty

Beginner

Stakeholders

Company Size

Medium (100-500)

Organizational Background

Dunmore Distribution Group is a 280-employee food distribution company founded in 1971 by Walter Dunmore, now 74. The company has been profitable for 40 consecutive years and has never had an external CEO. Walter's two adult children - Carla Dunmore-Parks, VP of Sales, and Eric Dunmore, VP of Operations - both believe they are the obvious successor. Neither has ever been explicitly evaluated for the role. Non-family executives include a CFO who has been with the company 22 years and two regional managers who together manage 70% of revenue. The CFO has a standing offer from a competitor. The company has no formal succession plan, no leadership development program, and no documented criteria for the CEO role. The board - three family friends and the company attorney - has never run a CEO search.

Key Stakeholders

Learning Objectives

Apply leadership assessment frameworks to succession planning contexts
Navigate family system dynamics within an organizational change process
Design objective evaluation criteria in politically charged environments
Identify retention risks among non-family key executives during leadership transitions
Develop succession recommendations that are organizationally sound and family-sensitive

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