We know that leadership is a 24/7 commitment because it is a mindset, a way of living your life, not just something you do. In short, it is difficult to take the leader out of a leader. But is that true even when you are gone?
We think so. If you were gone tomorrow, say for the most common reason that you died, do you have things in order to continue your leadership and make life easier for those you have left behind? Your will is a starting point, and maybe you have life insurance so there is liquid financial support available. But life is more complex than that, especially if you own a business. Ensuring that your family and business associates have instructions and access to what they need to clean up your affairs and ensure the success of your business is your way of leading after you are gone.
The Green Box concept advocates keeping your critical information in a single place that can be accessed by the people you trust when you are no longer here. Whether it’s an actual physical box, or virtual location, or both is up to you. In addition to documents and passwords (I have over 200 in my virtual safe), the Green Box can contain specific instructions that provide the how and why behind what is covered in your will.
Creating a Green Box is one of those items that needs a focused effort to make it on to today’s list – there are always more fun and more immediately profitable things to do. However, for all of us it is guaranteed that the day will come when the Green Box will be required. Many of the items in the list below are constantly changing so setting aside time on a quarterly, or at least semi-annual basis to update the information is also a good use of your time.
Green Box List:
• Letter to your spouse
• Letter to each child
• Letter to your employees , vendors, and business partners
• List of 5 most important employees in the company &their Strengths/weaknesses
• Off balance sheet deals
• Organizational Chart
• List of personal and business contacts that should be contacted in the event of your passing
• Deals in process and evaluation of them
• Strategy that I am thinking about but haven’t told anybody about
• List of Trusted Advisors and their roles (may or may not be currently working with YOUR company) such as Lawyer, Accountant, etc.
• Instructions not addressed in Will
• Copies of POA documents (Power of Attorney)
• Copy of Passport, Birth Certificate
• Copy of all credit cards
• Copy of physical property titles
• Personal stock portfolio information
• Details of Life insurance- personal and company owned
• Details of all other insurance
• Copies of personal property valuations (Jewelry, guns, collectables, etc.)
• Computer passwords
• Personal financial statement
• Extra passport photos
• Medical/Dental charts
• Funeral/Burial instructions
• Mementos and to whom you’d like them given
• Whatever else is important to your family or your business
Sources:
https://www.mortgage-express.com.au/blog/get-your-green-box-in-order#:~:text=Copies
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/green-box-excercise-caleb-west-/
https://www.masterypartners.com/post/planning-for-success-in-2022-the-green-box-exercise-maximize-business-value
