DES MOINES, IA, August 2026. For many family-owned businesses, succession planning begins when retirement starts to feel close. Rena Striegel, President of Transition Point Business Advisors, believes that is often years too late to get the full benefit of the process.
After more than two decades advising farm families and family-owned businesses, Striegel has come to view succession as part of business strategy itself. Decisions being made now about leadership, investment, growth, ownership, and financial performance can determine what choices will still be available when the time eventually comes for one generation to step back.
“Succession is not an event at the end of a business owner’s career,” Striegel said. “It is a business strategy that should shape the decisions being made today.”
Today’s Business Decisions Shape Tomorrow’s Transition
Striegel sees a close connection between how a business operates today and how prepared it will be for a transition later.
A company that depends heavily on one person for key decisions, relationships, or institutional knowledge may have difficulty transferring leadership, regardless of how well its ownership documents are prepared. The same is true when a future leader has been identified but has had few opportunities to make decisions or take responsibility for the business.
Financial choices matter as well. Expansion, debt, capital investments, land purchases, and other long-term commitments can all influence what is possible for both the current and next generation.
That is why Striegel encourages families to consider succession when making strategic decisions, rather than treating it as a separate project to address at some point in the future.
Preparing the Business and the Next Generation Together
Bringing succession into business strategy also changes how families prepare future leaders.
Instead of waiting for an eventual handoff, the next generation can gradually become involved in planning, financial discussions, management decisions, and other responsibilities while the current generation is still available to provide context and guidance.
This gives families time to learn what works.
A future leader may discover areas where additional experience is needed. The current generation may realize certain responsibilities have never been delegated. Families may also uncover different expectations about growth, ownership, or the direction of the operation while there is still time to discuss them without an immediate deadline.
For Striegel, that gradual preparation is one of the advantages of starting early. Families do not have to solve the entire succession question at once. They can make a series of thoughtful decisions that strengthen both the business and the people expected to lead it.
Connecting the Future of the Business With the Future of the Family
Raised on a dairy farm in What Cheer, Iowa, Striegel understands that business strategy in agriculture is rarely separate from family life. Decisions about land, leadership, ownership, and growth can affect parents, children, siblings, and future generations simultaneously.
Her work through Transition Point Business Advisors focuses on helping families bring those conversations together.
A family may have ambitious plans for business growth, for example, while the next generation has a different vision for the operation. An owner may intend to retire within a certain timeframe without realizing how much knowledge or decision-making authority still needs to be transferred.
Addressing those issues as part of strategic planning gives families an opportunity to reconcile business goals with personal expectations before circumstances narrow their choices.
Starting Earlier Creates More Options
Striegel believes one of the greatest advantages of early succession planning is flexibility.
When families begin years before a transition is required, they have more time to develop leaders, strengthen financial performance, consider ownership alternatives, resolve disagreements, and adjust plans when circumstances change.
Waiting until retirement, illness, or another major event forces action can remove some of those choices.
Through Transition Point Business Advisors, Striegel continues to advocate for an approach in which succession becomes an ongoing part of planning for the health and future of the business. Rather than asking only who will eventually own the operation, families can begin asking whether the decisions they are making today are preparing both the business and the people behind it for what comes next.
More information about Transition Point Business Advisors is available through the firm’s website. Rena Striegel also shares perspectives on succession, leadership, and family business through LinkedIn, and Facebook.
About Rena Striegel
Rena Striegel is the President of Transition Point Business Advisors and one of the leading authorities in agricultural and family business succession planning in the United States. Born on August 21, 1970, in What Cheer, Iowa, and raised on a dairy and hog farm, Rena developed an early understanding of the challenges, opportunities, and responsibilities that come with operating a multi-generational agricultural business. Her upbringing gave her firsthand insight into the realities of family farming and the importance of preserving both the business and the relationships behind it.
Rena holds an MBA from the University of Iowa and is a certified business coach. For more than twenty years, she has worked with farmers, agricultural leaders, executives, entrepreneurs, and family-owned businesses, helping them navigate strategic planning, succession, continuity planning, and leadership development. Her work focuses heavily on the human side of transition, including communication, family alignment, leadership readiness, and the practical decisions required to move a business forward.
Rena is the creator of The DIRTT Project®, a framework developed to help agricultural families improve communication, clarify expectations, and build leadership capacity as they prepare for ownership transition. She is also the host of the Ag Inspo podcast and a contributor to agricultural publications, sharing practical perspectives drawn from her work with family businesses.
Through her consulting, training, speaking, and educational work, Rena continues to help families and the professionals who advise them approach succession with greater clarity and confidence.
About Transition Point Business Advisors
Transition Point Business Advisors works with agricultural and family-owned businesses on succession, strategic planning, continuity planning, and leadership development. The firm helps families address both the business requirements of transition and the communication, leadership, and relationship dynamics that influence whether plans move forward successfully.