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Perspective 16
Exit Planning in an AI World
Living your legacy, not leaving it.
For generations, exit planning in business has followed a familiar story: build a company, scale it, accumulate wealth, sell it, and finally retire. Work hard, win big, cash out, and enjoy life at the end.
That was the formula for success for many entrepreneurs, founders and business owners. Build the value, sell the business, and walk away. Job done.
But as AI reshapes the business world and as many of us re-examine what truly matters, that old formula is starting to break down. And more importantly, many people are seeing that wealth without meaning simply doesn’t satisfy. A large bank balance may feel impressive for a moment, but if the work we’ve spent our life building carries no other purpose, the emptiness quickly shows itself.
More people are now asking - What if my business could be both financially successful and deeply meaningful? What if wealth wasn’t simply about accumulation, but also contribution? What if exit isn’t about leaving something, but about continuing to build something?
In the Work It Out Way, exit planning doesn’t begin someday in the distant future, it begins now. In fact, our legacy has already begun. It’s been unfolding every day of our life. It’s in every interaction we’ve had, every person we’ve encouraged, every client we’ve served, every piece of kindness, patience and generosity we’ve offered. This is our daily legacy. We have been building it, often without even realising it.
The truth is, we don’t need to wait until retirement to think about impact. We’re creating it already. And in this way of thinking, exit planning becomes much less about finances, and much more about handing forward what we’ve built, including the community, the contribution, and the relationships that carry our work into the future.
As founders, owners, or leaders, when we talk about exiting the business, we’re not talking about ending our work. We’re simply changing how we contribute. We’re letting others take up the leadership role while we move sideways into other projects, initiatives and ways of serving. Our involvement shifts, but our impact continues.
In many ways, exit planning is simply handing over the reins of a living legacy to the community of people who are already fully part of the work. They carry forward not just the business operations, but the values, the culture, and the energy we’ve built into the organisation. They carry our DNA of kindness and purpose into every decision and every relationship that continues when we are not there.
This is why, in the Work It Out Way, legacy is not something to consider at the end. It’s something to live intentionally now. You could think of it as living your life backwards. Instead of drifting forward and only asking later, "What have I left behind?" we begin today by asking, "What would I like my legacy to be?" And then, very simply, we start living it.
The truth is, there is no final exit. The business remains a part of us, and we remain a part of it. The people we’ve worked with including staff, customers, partners and suppliers, all continue to carry something of us forward. Our influence, our care, our kindness, and our love are embedded in the relationships we’ve built.
And so, exit planning is never about walking away. It’s about releasing. It’s about making space for others to lead, while knowing that the community we’ve helped create will continue to grow, contribute and expand, even when we’re no longer at the centre.
The wealth that comes from a Work It Out business is not simply money in the bank. The real wealth is the impact that continues to ripple outward long after the original founder steps back. It’s the people whose lives have been made better. It’s the community that keeps building. It’s a contribution that never stops.
This is the exit planning that AI cannot replicate because AI can’t build relationships that span generations of kindness. It can’t build trust. It can’t build legacy. Only people do that.
In the Work It Out Way, exit planning simply becomes another beautiful part of the same process we’ve been living all along: contributing, growing and sharing the work - together.
For generations, exit planning in business has followed a familiar story: build a company, scale it, accumulate wealth, sell it, and finally retire. Work hard, win big, cash out, and enjoy life at the end.
That was the formula for success for many entrepreneurs, founders and business owners. Build the value, sell the business, and walk away. Job done.
But as AI reshapes the business world and as many of us re-examine what truly matters, that old formula is starting to break down. And more importantly, many people are seeing that wealth without meaning simply doesn’t satisfy. A large bank balance may feel impressive for a moment, but if the work we’ve spent our life building carries no other purpose, the emptiness quickly shows itself.
More people are now asking - What if my business could be both financially successful and deeply meaningful? What if wealth wasn’t simply about accumulation, but also contribution? What if exit isn’t about leaving something, but about continuing to build something?
In the Work It Out Way, exit planning doesn’t begin someday in the distant future, it begins now. In fact, our legacy has already begun. It’s been unfolding every day of our life. It’s in every interaction we’ve had, every person we’ve encouraged, every client we’ve served, every piece of kindness, patience and generosity we’ve offered. This is our daily legacy. We have been building it, often without even realising it.
The truth is, we don’t need to wait until retirement to think about impact. We’re creating it already. And in this way of thinking, exit planning becomes much less about finances, and much more about handing forward what we’ve built, including the community, the contribution, and the relationships that carry our work into the future.
As founders, owners, or leaders, when we talk about exiting the business, we’re not talking about ending our work. We’re simply changing how we contribute. We’re letting others take up the leadership role while we move sideways into other projects, initiatives and ways of serving. Our involvement shifts, but our impact continues.
In many ways, exit planning is simply handing over the reins of a living legacy to the community of people who are already fully part of the work. They carry forward not just the business operations, but the values, the culture, and the energy we’ve built into the organisation. They carry our DNA of kindness and purpose into every decision and every relationship that continues when we are not there.
This is why, in the Work It Out Way, legacy is not something to consider at the end. It’s something to live intentionally now. You could think of it as living your life backwards. Instead of drifting forward and only asking later, "What have I left behind?" we begin today by asking, "What would I like my legacy to be?" And then, very simply, we start living it.
The truth is, there is no final exit. The business remains a part of us, and we remain a part of it. The people we’ve worked with including staff, customers, partners and suppliers, all continue to carry something of us forward. Our influence, our care, our kindness, and our love are embedded in the relationships we’ve built.
And so, exit planning is never about walking away. It’s about releasing. It’s about making space for others to lead, while knowing that the community we’ve helped create will continue to grow, contribute and expand, even when we’re no longer at the centre.
The wealth that comes from a Work It Out business is not simply money in the bank. The real wealth is the impact that continues to ripple outward long after the original founder steps back. It’s the people whose lives have been made better. It’s the community that keeps building. It’s a contribution that never stops.
This is the exit planning that AI cannot replicate because AI can’t build relationships that span generations of kindness. It can’t build trust. It can’t build legacy. Only people do that.
In the Work It Out Way, exit planning simply becomes another beautiful part of the same process we’ve been living all along: contributing, growing and sharing the work - together.
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Copyright © Diversiton 2003-2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.