How Company Owners Need to Spend Their Time in the Last Decade Before Retirement

Using the “Multiplying Magic” Framework to Protect Your Legacy

TL;DR:

If you’re a company owner within 10 years of retirement, the most strategic thing you can do now is multiply your leadership culture. The Multiplying Magic framework helps you codify what matters, identify who to invest in, and transfer your wisdom through informing, training, coaching, and apprenticing. Your legacy depends on what you multiply—not just what you build.

How Company Owners Need to Spend Their Time in the Last Decade Before Retirement

If you’re a business owner in the final decade of your career, there’s a subtle but critical shift you need to make: from leading the charge to multiplying your magic.

That magic—the culture, instincts, decision frameworks, and leadership behaviors that have made your company successful—is too valuable to leave undocumented or unreplicated.

The GiANT “Multiplying Magic” tool provides a clear lens to answer the most important question for legacy-minded leaders:

How will what’s made you effective outlast your tenure?

Let’s walk through the four steps to making that happen.

Step 1: What Are You Multiplying?

You have wisdom that isn’t written anywhere. Maybe it’s how you diffuse conflict, how you make key hires, how you spot red flags, or how you lead through pressure. You probably also have cultural expectations that no one’s ever written down, but everyone “just knows.”

This is the first challenge: you can’t multiply what hasn’t been named.

Start by documenting the behaviors, rhythms, systems, and values that drive performance and health in your organization. Ask yourself:

• What do I do intuitively that others need to learn?

• What do I want our next generation of leaders to protect?

• What do I hope doesn’t disappear when I step away?

This is where outside perspective helps. My work often starts here—pulling what’s in a founder’s head and shaping it into something transferable and scalable.

Step 2: To Whom?

You don’t need to multiply yourself into everyone—but you do need to be clear on who carries the baton next.

Ask:

Who are the leaders, influencers, and high-potential team members that will carry the culture forward?

Some of them may already be in key roles. Others might still be in development. Don’t default to titles—think in terms of character, influence, and alignment with your company’s values.

This is the group you’ll invest in the most over the next several years. Select intentionally.

Step 3: When?

One of the biggest mistakes retiring owners make is waiting too long to start transferring ownership—mentally, relationally, and operationally. You need a multiplication timeline, not just a retirement date.

Here’s a sample cadence to consider:

• Years 10–7: Codify the culture. Document the non-negotiables of how you lead, how you make decisions, and how your team operates.

• Years 6–4: Train and develop. Begin passing down those behaviors to your key leaders. Start letting go of tactical responsibilities.

• Years 3–1: Shift to coaching and support. Begin positioning your team to take the lead. Let them run, while you provide guidance behind the scenes.

• Final year: Release and celebrate. Let go with confidence, knowing you’ve multiplied what matters.

Step 4: How Will You Multiply?

This is where the Multiplying Magic framework really shines. It outlines four clear stages of development:

Inform (for the many)

Share what you know and why it matters. This is typically done through all-staff meetings, videos, internal messaging, and town halls. It’s about awareness and alignment—and it can reach the entire company.

Train (for a medium group: 20–30 max)

Create space for interaction, practice, and feedback. Workshops, team training sessions, or leadership development programs fit here. It’s not just about hearing the content—it’s about learning to do it.

Coach (for a focused group: 10–12 people)

Coaching means walking alongside others as they begin to lead using your principles. This is personal, adaptive, and relationship-driven. You ask good questions, observe, and provide timely input.

Apprentice (for a select few: 3–4 max)

These are your true legacy leaders. They don’t just know what you do—they understand how and why you do it. Apprenticing is slow, deep, and intentional. It’s the highest investment with the highest return. You’re preparing these individuals not just to repeat your success, but to evolve it and make it their own.

Final Thought: Multiplication > Replacement

Your business doesn’t need another version of you. It needs the essence of your leadership multiplied through the next generation. That requires time, clarity, and a strategy.

This is exactly the kind of work I help leaders do—codify their leadership DNA, identify and train future multipliers, and build systems that protect what matters most. Tools like Multiplying Magic, paired with frameworks like the 5 Voices, give us a common language to make this work stick.

The final decade of your career can be your most impactful—if you choose to multiply, not just maintain.