Read Between the Lines
The handover of a long-standing business – often a family firm – to the next generation of leaders is by no means an uncommon scenario. It presents the incoming leader with a very specific set of challenges, as they inherit not just an organisation, but its entire legacy, history, ingrained habits, formal and informal networks, and employees’ expectations. Perhaps that is why preparing for such a transition, and the critical first 90 days that follow, is widely considered paramount. This is especially true when the next generation respects tradition but has no intention of delaying innovation, recognising a clear, and sometimes urgent, need for change.
Whose advice should we seek? Look no further than the protagonist of Saara El-Arifi’s novel “Cleopatra”***. Cleopatra VII took over the throne from her father, inheriting the position “lock, stock, and barrel”. I can assure you that the young ruler stepped right into a highly challenging situation. Economically, everything hinged on the fickle Nile and its flooding patterns. Her father had a habit of prioritising “favours” over sound economics, racking up highly problematic debts. On top of that, she had to contend with priests, advisors, and a royal court, all convinced that a young leader – and a woman at that – would be an easy puppet to manage. In their eyes, the only remaining question was who would pull the strings. The “old guard” had a plan of their own.
I encourage you to approach this novel in a completely different way than you would a traditional read. We are going to treat this story as a lesson in strategic management during a time of succession. Let’s assume we are dealing with a company that has a long, well-established history – quite possibly a family business where the family name carries significant weight. Such a setup is a valuable asset and a core strength on one hand; on the other, it can often create a chilling effect. Whenever conversations about innovative changes arise, you frequently hear the classic line: “We’ve always done it this way.” It is precisely these friction points that we will focus on while reading Saara El-Arifi’s “Cleopatra”.
I must stress that none of the materials you receive from me are a summary of the novel. The starting point is having your own copy of the book. Without it, you won’t be able to fully benefit from the content provided.
Below is a list of key focus areas to look out for as you read the story of Egypt’s most famous ruler.
You can print this list out to keep it handy while reading.
Remember to highlight interesting passages, take notes, jot down quotes, and underline elements of the story that spark your curiosity, surprise you, or trigger agreement – or perhaps disagreement – with the characters’ actions and words. Read with a view to letting Cleopatra teach you a masterclass in navigating a challenging corporate succession.
1. In the opening chapters, track closely how much information Cleopatra receives through official channels versus what she gathers via unofficial routes. Note the scenes that surprise you regarding who the young queen speaks with and the topics they discuss – observe how unorthodox her relationships can be.
Highlight and note down how her advisors behave, how they block change, what arguments they deploy, and the lengths they will go to protect their own influence.
Mark every single moment where you spot sabotage and microaggressions from the ‘old guard’.
2. Draw up a list of criteria that determine whether Cleopatra considers someone fit or worthy of a place at court and within her inner circle. For each character, try to answer the following question: what matters more – competence or loyalty, and why?
3. Make a list of everything Cleopatra ‘inherited’, dividing it immediately into two columns – domestic and international.
- The ‘domestic’ legacy: old promises, connections with governors, emerging historical obligations, tax exemptions, and agreements no one else knew about.
- The ‘international’ legacy: debts owed to the Romans and neighbouring rulers.
Additional task: as you read the novel, note down how Cleopatra dealt with each of these debts and evaluate her decision. Would you have made the same choice?
4. For Cleopatra, tradition is sacred in many situations, but there is one area she personally emphasised above all else – cultivating her own ‘Egyptian identity’ and adopting the symbolism of Isis. When reading about each such instance, every public appearance, and every ceremony, write down your answer to the question: ‘why is she doing this, why in this manner, and why does it matter in this context?’. Nothing here is accidental, every gesture and word has a purpose and… an audience. Can you identify who that audience really is?
5. How does Cleopatra prepare the backdrop, staging, and script for key ‘business’ discussions? Pay attention to how she uses architecture, banquets, her own erudition, and her understanding of psychology and the world to achieve her goals. Observe how she ensures the other party feels comfortable, yet never allows anyone to forget that she is the ruler.
Advanced task: every time Cleopatra uses her version of ‘soft power’, ask yourself what alternative route she could have taken. Blackmail? War? Political conflict? Legal wrangling? Which would you have chosen? What outcome would you expect to see then?
Read closely and pay attention to the nuances that emerge during this challenging transition. Pass judgement on Cleopatra! Notice what she handles like a master, and identify the moments where you think she miscalculates. Engage with her, praise her, and argue with her and her ideas. But above all – draw your own conclusions!
Below you will find a PDF containing these same five key focus areas. You can print it out to keep it by your side while reading.
DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT UNTIL YOU HAVE FINISHED THE BOOK
If you have already finished the novel and have gathered your own insights and assessment of Cleopatra VII’s actions, you might now feel ready to expand your knowledge on how to design a succession strategy for a next-generation leader taking over a heritage family business.
To help you bridge the gap between literature and modern management, I have prepared a list of ten questions. On one hand, they serve as a wrap-up of your reading; on the other, they act as a launchpad for developing your own succession strategy. They will also help you understand why we focused on those five main areas during the read, and how to translate them from “Egyptian tradition” into the reality of a modern-day leader.
Don’t just answer them in your head. Sit down, reflect, and write your answers down. Revisit them from time to time to track which areas you have already mastered and which ones still require your focus and commitment.
1. Which ‘old debts’ inherited by Cleopatra (financial, relational, reputational) shocked you the most?
Business reflection: What hidden liabilities, toxic dynamics or historical mistakes of your predecessors weigh heavily on your organisation, demanding immediate diagnosis and/or intervention?
2. How did Cleopatra neutralise the threat posed by a more powerful partner (Rome) and transform it into an alliance?
Business reflection: Who in your market (e.g., a major competitor, a key supplier, a regulator, a lawmaker) appears to be a threat, but could instead become your ‘Caesar’ – a powerful ally in times of crisis?
3. What sabotage mechanisms did Cleopatra’s court employ to maintain the status quo?
Business reflection: Who in your company constitutes the ‘old guard’ blocking innovation, and what covert forms of resistance do your employees deploy against the new order?
4. At what points did Cleopatra risk losing the support of the elites in order to win the trust of the people (her ‘rebranding’ through the cult of Isis)?
Business reflection: Which of your company’s traditions or values must you respect and highlight to secure genuine loyalty from frontline teams during periods of transformation, even profound ones?
5. What was the most challenging moment in Cleopatra’s relationships with her siblings, and what was the deciding factor in her ultimate victory?
Business reflection: Where within your organisation lies the line between empathy and personal relationships, versus the ruthless interests and survival of the business? When must family, after all, come second?
6. How do you assess the ethical dimension of Cleopatra’s decisions in her struggle for succession and the elimination of her siblings? Where, in your view, is the line between ‘effective leadership’ and ‘losing one’s humanity’?
Business reflection: What emotional and moral costs are you willing to bear to execute your strategic growth vision against the will of other family members?
7. Which scene in the book was the best example of the protagonist deploying ‘soft power’ (intellect, spectacle, diplomacy) rather than brute military force?
Business reflection: In which management areas do you too often act as a ‘disruptor’ by force, when better outcomes could be achieved through communication, narrative building, and demonstrating expert authority?
8. What was the source of Cleopatra’s genuine legitimacy in the eyes of those who chose to follow her?
Business reflection: What underpins your personal authority in the company – your job title and fear, or unique competencies and a shared vision of the future?
9. If you were to point out the single greatest strategic or psychological error Cleopatra committed in the novel, what would it be?
Business reflection: Against what analogous blunder of hubris, blindness to market signals or poor selection of partners must you safeguard yourself and your business?
10. What single, most vital management principle do you take away from this book as a leader facing potential change?
Business reflection: Drawing inspiration from the protagonist’s approach, what specific action will you implement within your team over the next 90 days?
This same list of ten questions is also available as a PDF for you to download and print, if you prefer that format.
Now, it is time for a wrap-up and a solid, extra helping of theory.
We will start by summarizing the fundamentals – namely, the core strategic assumptions when there is a change at the helm of a heritage business, assuming the incoming leader does not want to maintain the current status quo. They want to introduce changes and do so effectively. You can find this summary below in the form of a presentation.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the elements presented in the video version.
When taking over the top jobs in a long-standing company, an incoming leader may feel a strong urge to quickly prove they are worthy of the position, that they know what they are doing, and that they are now the one making decisions. If, on top of that, they find rigid structures inside the company, almost ritualistic procedures, and habits repeated for years, they often start by loudly declaring: “From today, things will be different!” And that can be the beginning of the end for their potential success.
A new leader must not forget that the first few days are not the time to introduce quick or radical changes. This period demands exceptional tact, the deployment of “soft power”, building trust, understanding and respecting symbols, and sensing human emotions. These people have spent many years building their identity around those symbols and habits. Often, the phrase “because that’s just how we do things here” is not a sign of blind stubbornness; it carries far deeper meaning for them than it might seem to an outsider.
The main task for a new leader is to inherit the business and its legacy without destroying it, and instead, steer it in a new, desired direction.
What lies behind that very broad word, “legacy”? It can be an entire, rich, multi-layered, and often invisible system. It includes customary actions and decisions made according to a fixed pattern. It contains both formal and informal hierarchies. It features unwritten rules that carry the weight of law. It encompasses alliances that have functioned for years – both internally and externally, between organisations – whose usefulness and purpose no one has questioned for a very long time. And finally, within this system, lie employees expectations of leadership. Today, employees also face an anxious question: will we be treated with respect, or will someone decide to make us redundant in the name of efficiency and speed? This creates growing tension among staff, fuelled by uncertainty.
A quick piece of advice for the incoming leader – communication, communication, and communication again. By this, I do not just mean delivering clear, efficient, and well-targeted information down the management chain. I also mean gathering information that travels from the bottom up. In other words, do not focus on merely informing employees, focus on dialogue. Most importantly, in those first few days, a leader should clearly, calmly, and frequently repeat one key message: they view the company’s tradition as a lever, and they know how to use it. Radical changes will only be introduced where that tradition acts as a heavy anchor, dragging the business down and blocking forward momentum.
Why do I stress the importance of communication from the very outset? Because there is virtually no long-standing, well-established company where an incoming leader will not encounter the so-called “old guard”. This is a group of people who wield strong influence over the day-to-day running of the business, and this influence does not necessarily stem from their official job titles. This brings us to a crucial, yet often highly complex issue: how do you convince the “old guard” that you are capable of leading and that you are the right person for the job, while simultaneously reaching the frontline staff so that your message lands with them directly, without being filtered or reinterpreted by the “old guard”? If a leader succeeds in doing this, they gain not only the legitimacy of their leadership but also vital support during times of change. People will feel that no one is trying to erase their history or forcing them to choose between the old and the new.
Let’s pause here for a moment. Many leaders navigating a succession tend to operate on an “either-or” basis. But this is a mistake. It is not about scrapping one approach and backing the other 100%. It is about finding a balance between two poles – sometimes even maintaining a healthy tension between them – so that one feeds the other, ensuring they complement rather than compete with each other.
The most critical, yet broadest, balancing act lies between heritage and innovation. Respecting heritage preserves the company’s identity, while innovation keeps the business alive. You cannot neglect, let alone abandon, either one.
This highlights another key trade-off to balance – speed of action versus patience in execution. In many cases, an incoming leader wants results here and now – immediate decisions and rapid implementation. Yet, during a succession, patience is often the best antidote to a host of potential mistakes.
A leader must also always bear in mind the balance between the authority of a family name and the authority of competence, leveraging both simultaneously. A name, particularly in a family business, is the ultimate calling card and can certainly open doors, but it is not enough for day-to-day management. That name only gains true power when it is backed by competence – expertise, leadership capabilities, and both hard and soft skills.
Now, let us return to the aforementioned “old guard”. In many scenarios, resistance from this group sparks the greatest anxiety regarding the success of a leadership transition. This raises the question: should you win them over, break them up, or opt for a middle ground? Once a course of action is chosen, the next question is the pace at which to move. Many new leaders realise that if they push through radical decisions too quickly, they risk paralysing company operations. On the flip side, if they focus solely on persuasion and move too slowly, they can end up stuck in old networks for months or even years, ultimately paralysing themselves and their own decision-making power.
A highly effective first step for an incoming leader is to dismantle the strategy of “information isolation” often deployed by the “old guard”. In many instances, long-serving employees are well aware that they can draw power and gain leverage over a new leader by relying on their monopoly on knowledge – operating on the mindset of: “Only we know how this works, and we have no intention of letting anyone else in on it.”
This calls for a strictly non-aggressive approach. If the new leader goes to war, perhaps even resorting to veiled ultimatums or coercion, or over-explaining how vital it is to share this insights, their actions will trigger only one response – a hardening of positions. It simply signals to the “old guard” that their “information isolation” is a powerful weapon.
Instead, it is far better to plan, design, and implement transparent reporting systems, knowledge-sharing frameworks, and corporate repositories, or perhaps even establish expert working groups. Firstly, this is a proactive, professional move. It extracts data “out of people’s heads and ring binders” and transfers it into a system accessible to anyone who genuinely needs it. It does not carry the stigma of an adversarial action. This is especially true if it is framed around efficiency, productivity, and ultimately driving the company’s operational excellence – which is entirely accurate. The “old guard” will find it difficult to challenge decisions made for the greater good of the business, particularly when those measures are not even direct references to them during roll-out. Yet, in reality, this group loses the ability to boost their own prestige and highlight their indispensability by monopolising knowledge.
The next step can be introducing new talents, starting with areas and roles that are critical for change and innovation. It is worth emphasizing that you do not start with redundancies – this is a deliberate strategy to avoid unnecessary conflict. Hiring two or three external professionals whose sole brief is change and innovation – and initially placing them in advisory positions or roles parallel to existing structures – is a move that shouldn’t trigger strong resistance.
Some might argue that this complicates matters and creates a “suffocating” atmosphere. But that does not have to be the case. If the leader has clearly defined objectives and knows where they are heading, it becomes easy to identify the right touchpoints among the staff. They build a communication network based on the people who actually matter to the change process. Crucially, they welcome anyone into this network without bias – including long-standing staff, provided they show commitment. This spans all levels of the organisation, as frontline workers often prove to be a rich source of insights and the true engine room of day-to-day operations.
This strategy yields another positive outcome for the leader – without taking any overt action against the “old guard”, this group often begins to fracture. Their monopoly on knowledge has been stripped away, and now they are losing their monopoly on influence and their ability to filter information.
Now comes the highest-stakes, yet essential decision – a litmus test of loyalty. It is time to announce an ambitious change, a project that introduces an innovative approach to a vital area of the business. A word of warning, though – this must not be a decision that turns operations upside down. Instead, it should be something modern, aligned with market shifts and the needs of today’s customer, something that gently demands a shift in employee mindset.
When is the right time to act? There is an unwritten rule known as the first 90 days. It is already clear that these initial three months are not the time for grand declarations or massive upheavals. Instead, this is a period for holding conversations with people, auditing the existing state of affairs, and mapping out the informal networks of influence. It is also the window for that single, visible, yet non-revolutionary change. This move demonstrates that the incoming leader can deliver results without dismantling the company’s identity. It proves they can serve as a bridge between the past and the future, connecting corporate veterans with young, next-generation managers, and balancing long-serving staff with new hires. In short, it merges experience with a fresh perspective, and tradition with new energy. The core message should be: “We are sustaining the best of what we have, and upgrading what holds us back.”
What are the main pitfalls to avoid during this first project? This is not about ego or asserting the authority as a leader. It is about building trust and breaking down resistance. Attempting to move in too many directions at once, overloading people with messages, or applying heavy pressure will backfire. The initiative must feel as natural and acceptable to the workforce as possible. Once again, everything hinges on communication, this time, highly proactive engagement across all levels, including informal leaders. This approach keeps the project from grinding to a halt, as it prevents passive resistance or outright sabotage. However, this dialogue must be genuine. Token consultations designed merely to “create an illusion of involvement”, essentially acting as corporate theatre, will fail. Employees quickly spot this, leading to resentment, cynicism, and a desire to push back.
What should you do if “traditionalists” start airing negative views (either publicly or behind closed doors) or, worse, sabotaging operations after you launch this critical first project? At this juncture, an incoming leader might feel tempted to pull rank and go to war. This is a costly mistake that drains time, energy, and resources. The solution lies in deploying “soft power” – specifically, by consistently delivering a clear, direct message to the frontline staff. This is a delicate task, as a top executive must bypass layers to communicate their vision directly to the shop floor. Success depends on how it is done: the choice of language, using data that resonates with frontline workers, and highlighting their vital role in the transition. When belief in change and innovation takes root at the bottom, it becomes an incredibly powerful force.
This is also the time for making definitive calls. The leader has now formed their opinions and conclusions, they know who is engaged and loyal. It is time to decide who stays, who transitions into a new role, and who will be let go. Yet, before opening any discussions about redundancies, every effort must be made to retain competent people. There are plenty of them embedded in the old structures. Many are stuck in old habits, not out of malice, but due to routine or a sheer lack of belief that things can truly change. Perhaps some felt undervalued, or were silenced by individuals with more dominant positions. This is the moment to seek out the “enlightened traditionalists”, giving them a fair chance to adapt to the new standards and operational frameworks. One-on-one meetings are invaluable here, conducted with full respect and a genuine desire to understand their values, mindsets, and worldview. You may well find individuals who become an incredibly valuable asset to a heritage business, serving as the ultimate link between “yesterday” and “tomorrow”.
How can you leverage these individuals? While their current employment terms might remain unchanged, companies very often create alternative pathways for them to contribute. Advisory roles, non-executive directorships on the board, or even a structured retirement (which they may secretly long for) while retaining them as mentors, all prove highly effective.
In summary, taking the helm of a heritage business is a task that demands exceptional tact, precision, and an acute sense of timing and human emotion. It frequently requires unconventional solutions to ensure that tradition strengthens innovation. Ultimately, it allows the firm to endure, maintaining its hard-earned reputation while being perceived as a modern, forward-looking organisation rather than one stuck in the past.
This pivotal moment does not call for a revolutionary. It requires a “translator” between what was and what will be – bridging symbols and legacy with change and growth.
Let’s return to Cleopatra for a moment. It might be hard to believe at first – before diving into the novel or her biographies – but during those high-stakes, crunch moments, when taking over a heritage business and its entire “court” starts causing sleepless nights and forcing you to make pivotal calls, asking yourself: “What would Cleopatra do in my shoes?” actually makes sense! She was a master of unconventional solutions. She had an impeccable sense of when to project raw power and when to deploy her charm, making decisions with one ultimate goal always in mind: Egypt. And that is perhaps the greatest lesson of all – you must always keep your Pharos lighthouse, your Egypt, firmly in sight.
*** Here, you have a choice. If you enjoy fiction, Saara El-Arifi’s novel will serve as an excellent source of insight and training material. However, if you prefer biographies, you can pick up Stacy Schiff’s “Cleopatra”. This biography takes a strictly scholarly approach, yet it will still allow you to seamlessly utilise the exact same materials I have prepared.
If you are struggling to choose, take a look at my double review of both titles.
Aga J. Mackiewicz
for Intensive Chapters
A human, not artificial intelligence, is always responsible for the substantive content and final form of all texts on this website. No text is the result of any advertising partnership. All content represents our own, sometimes subjective, opinions, and no payment has ever influenced them. Photos used in the posts are our own, while graphics are created with the help of AI tools.