There is No Book on It: Important Insights on End-of-Life Planning From Business Leader Facing Terminal Illness
“Death is one of the last taboos. We very rarely talk about it and how to cope with it. But when you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, you have no choice but to face up to the reality of your impending death and you have to plan for it. If you run a business you need to decide what is going to happen to that as well.”
Tim Sparke’s Story
In a BBC Business International program named “The Last Taboo,” Tim Sparke answers the question, “What do you do with your business when you discover you have a terminal illness?” Tim Sparke started and runs Mercury Media International, a documentary distribution business. He also has a wife and two kids.
18 months ago, Tim discovered that he had thyroid cancer that had metastasized to his brain. It is nearly impossible for metastasized cancer to be cured, and normally patients have a prognosis of about six months to live. Although Tim has lived for a year since the diagnosis, he also has seen his physical capabilities diminish and understands that he has terminal cancer. He knows that he is not able to run his company in the same way that he used to.
“Quality of life, actually, is probably more important that quantity of life when things start to go rapidly down hill”
Succession Plan
Tim Sparke discussed how he has begun to make a succession plan in order to support both his family and business. Tim says, “There isn’t a book about it. Let’s just say that.” When asked to explain how one can begin to make succession plans, Tim Sparke provided the following outline:
- “The first thing you need to do is find out exactly what is going on and what the likely process and progress of the disease that you’ve got is going to be.
- Then you have to understand, how is the disease going to impact your ability to run the business day to day?”
- Once you have set a road map, there are many variables in the decisions that need to be made.
- “Who is going to run the business when you’re not there?
- Does the business need to be scaled down or scaled up?
- How are you going to deal with staff who naturally will have their own ambitions and will be fearful that their job might not be there?”
- Tim Sparke said, “The plan at the moment is to try to sell the company…. I know I’ve got something of value to hand over to somebody who wants to be in this particular business.”
Life After the Diagnosis
Tim Sparke was asked, “How much of a shock was it to get the diagnosis?” He replied, “It was shocking, although having spent four months trying to find out what it was, it didn’t come as that much of a shock because I knew there was something wrong.” However, Tim Sparke has found the best way to live with a shocking diagnosis. “You come to terms with these things. I didn’t have a choice. I had to think about the fact that the business couldn’t just close down that next day. I have a wife and two children that need me and need me to provide for them… It’s not pleasant, but we are all going to die of something at some point in our lives. Though, I’ve just been given advanced warning. And that actually is completely liberating.” Tim has found a sense of clarity with his diagnosis. He says that the little things in life that have no significance “dissolve completely.“
Tim Sparke concludes with words of wisdom by saying, “If I have any advice to business people today, make sure you’ve got some kind of health insurance and make sure you’ve got some sort of business interruption insurance. If you feel there might be something wrong with you, make sure you go to your doctor and make sure they find out what it is to your satisfaction. And take responsibility for your health, because actually health trumps wealth. If I haven’t learned anything, whatever you’ve created in the world, without your health, it is kind of useless.”
There are a number of good resources out there to start the conversation about facing serious illness and terminal illness such as:
http://theconversationproject.org/
http://fivewishes.org/
http://www.caringinfo.org/
http://www.engagewithgrace.org/
Citation:
“The Last Taboo.” Business Daily. BBC: 12 Jul 2013.<http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01bpzcb/Business_Daily_The_Last_Taboo/>.
