What is Succession Planning & Why Does It Matter with Kevin Crawford | 120

Jon Clayton hosts Architecture Business Club with guest Kevin Crawford, an architecture practice leader with 20+ years’ experience who implemented a succession plan at Crawford Architecture via a transition to employee ownership. They define succession planning as future-proofing the business, protecting legacy, and ensuring continuity if the owner retires, can’t work, or dies, noting many practices delay it until it becomes urgent. Kevin shares how waiting until his father was around 70 created pressure and highlights why planning matters for owners, families, staff career paths, valuation, and avoiding rushed sales to the wrong buyer. They discuss that succession planning applies to all firms, including sole practitioners, and stress the need to take time away from day-to-day work, use structured planning (including ideas from the book “Traction”), clarify roles, communicate a shared vision, and maintain discipline.

Today’s Guest

Kevin Crawford is an architecture practice leader with over 20 years of experience running and growing a practice, before putting a succession plan in place through a transition to employee ownership. Today, he’s the founder of Designing Success and co-founder of ASC and Pilotis, where he helps architecture practice leaders design better businesses — gaining more clarity, time and freedom, while strengthening the person behind the practice.

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Episode Highlights

00:00 Introduction

00:46 Meet Kevin Crawford

01:20 Why This Topic Now

01:40 Defining Succession Planning

02:15 Planning For Inevitability

02:49 Family Firm Backstory

03:58 New Ventures Plan From Day One

04:33 Ostrich To Eagle Mindset

05:18 Forced Change And Complexity

05:39 Most Firms Delay This

06:23 Reactive Industry Trap

06:52 Hamster Wheel Workaholism

07:27 Two Year Transition Journey

08:03 Balancing Three Stakeholders

08:29 Protecting The Legacy

08:48 Choosing Employee Ownership

09:36 Others Still Ignore It

10:18 Why Succession Matters

10:42 Time With Family Motivation

12:34 Shared Vision And Culture Shift

13:53 Risks Of Leaving It Late

15:28 Is Succession Planning Relevant To Small Firms

16:33 Buying Time To Plan

20:25 Consequences Of Ignoring It

22:36 Collaboration Over Competition

24:24 Where To Start Today

24:49 Frameworks And Reflection

26:21 Discipline And Weekly Structure

27:41 Key Takeaways

29:26 Employee Ownership Realities

30:31 Must Have Business Resource

30:51 Project Management Game Changer

32:02 Connect With Kevin

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Key Takeaways

Don't put it off — start thinking about succession planning now.

It's easy to say "I'll deal with it later," but Kevin learned the hard way that waiting too long makes everything harder. His dad was 70 before they started planning, and by then it was stressful for the whole family. Even if you're not ready to act right now, you should at least start thinking about what happens to your business when you're no longer running it.

You need to make time to work on your business, not just in it.

Kevin used to think working longer hours was the answer. He'd start at 4am and work until midnight. But that didn't help him plan for the future — it just kept him stuck on the hamster wheel. The real change came when he stepped away from the day-to-day and gave himself proper time to think. You need to block out time in your week to focus on the bigger picture, even if it's just a couple of hours on a Friday.

Succession planning matters no matter how big or small your practice is.

You might think this only applies to large firms, but Kevin says it's just as important for sole practitioners. If your business depends entirely on you, what happens if you can't work? Who looks after your projects and your clients? Having a plan in place protects you, your team, and the legacy you've built — whether you're a one-person studio or a team of twenty.

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