Business leaders know they need to embrace technology, and many of us are aware we should be doing more.

Many of you know that I am on the board of several private companies, five of which are manufacturers. We love manufacturing here at Oasis Partners.

I was struck by an article in the AFR on Wednesday (18th August) in which writer James Weirs correctly observes that we as humans are hard-wired towards negativity.

I refer to the syndrome of never getting out of the details as being "in the weeds."

In speaking with a lot of owners of private businesses, I often hear stories of them being approached - seemingly out of the blue - by someone knocking on the door and looking to buy their business.

You will exit your business one day. This is just an irrefutable fact; as the saying goes, ‘death and taxes are the only two certainties!'

This question was recently addressed by our European colleague John Willcox-Jones. We’ve shared his insights here because they’re very relevant to Australian businesses.

A quote that you will rarely hear when remaining life becomes short. The opposite comment is almost invariably the case.

Unsolicited approaches are all-too-common in Australia too, so we thought we’d share our European colleague John Willcox-Jones’ advice on how to evaluate and handle unsolicited offers.

Many entrepreneurs that were contemplating a sale or retirement in the next few years have had their plans thrown to the wind by the experiences of the last twelve months.