Bernie Marcus built one of the greatest businesses in retail history - Home Depot. But when it came time to answer "who's next?" - there was no answer. The seven-year cost of that gap is a lesson every business owner needs to hear before they need it.

Steve Jobs died six weeks after handing Apple to Tim Cook. The stock grew twentyfold. In 2026, Cook handed it to someone shaped entirely by the system Jobs built. That's not luck. That's design.