Notes on authority and the handover.
On what it takes for the next generation to lead the board, the senior team and the family.
How do I lead through a crisis in my first year as successor?
A crisis in the successor's first year tests whether decisions hold and whether the parent steps back in. How to communicate, decide and agree the parent's role when it matters most.
How do I let go of someone who has worked for my family for 20 years?
Letting go a long-serving employee is one of the hardest decisions a family successor makes. The human and leadership side: preparing, involving your parent, the conversation itself, dignity, and telling the team.
Is it normal to not feel ready to take over the family business?
Not feeling ready is common among family successors, and it is not the same as not wanting the role. How to tell the two apart, and how to turn a vague sense of unreadiness into a specific plan.
Online leadership course vs one-to-one coaching: which is right for a successor?
An online course teaches a successor what good leadership looks like. One-to-one coaching works on how they actually lead their own board and team. What each does well, where each falls short, and how to choose.
Owner language: from "my father thinks" to "we decided"
Small phrases tell a room where decisions really live. What owner language is, why successors drift away from it, and how to make the shift without sounding arrogant.
How do I prepare a daughter to lead in a traditional industry?
Preparing a daughter to lead a family business in a traditional industry is mostly about visible authority: real sponsorship, clear decision rights and how the founder handles people who still turn to them.
How do I prepare for a town hall as the new leader?
A town hall is not a speech. It is live questions from the whole company, some of them hard. How a family successor prepares for the questions, handles hostile ones, and avoids promises they cannot keep.
What should we prepare before the private diagnostic?
What is useful for a parent and a successor to think about before the Second Chair™ private diagnostic: the two intakes, who might be interviewed, the leadership calendar, and why the baseline is best left unprepared.
Why do I feel I have to prove myself twice as hard?
Many family successors work longer and harder than anyone around them, and still feel it is not enough. Why that happens, why effort is the wrong proof, and what to show instead.
Remote or in-person coaching for a successor?
The honest trade-offs between remote and in-person coaching for a family successor: what each does well, what each loses, how to make remote work, and why Second Chair™ sessions are remote.
How do I run my first board meeting as chair or CEO?
Running the board meeting is a different job from presenting to it. How a family successor sets the agenda, prepares the papers, chairs the discussion, handles the founder in the room and closes with clear decisions.
Second Chair™ vs a family business program at a business school: which does my successor need?
A fair comparison of a family business program at a business school and Second Chair™'s six-month, one-to-one work: what each is built to do, where each stops, and why many families use both.
Second Chair™ vs a general executive coach: what is the difference for a family successor?
What a good general executive coach does well, what changes when the client is a family successor, and how Second Chair™ is built around the family, the parent and the handover.
Is 'shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations' true?
The old proverb says family wealth is lost by the third generation. Where the saying comes from, what the numbers behind it do and do not show, and what actually erodes across generations that a family can influence.
Should I take over the family business?
Yes and no are both legitimate answers. The honest questions that help a family successor decide, about the work, the business, the family and yourself, and what each answer can look like.
Should I stay as chairman after my child becomes CEO?
Staying on as chairman can steady a succession or quietly undo it. When the arrangement works, when it does not, and the conditions that make the difference.
Should the successor rotate through every department first?
The case for and against rotating a family successor through every department, what rotations rarely teach, and alternatives such as targeted rotations and running a real P&L.
Should my successor work somewhere else first?
Outside experience gives a family business successor a track record nobody can attribute to the family name. When it helps, how long is enough, and what it does not prepare them for.
Siblings and the successor: roles, fairness and who decides what
When one child leads the family business and others do not, or work in it in other roles, fairness becomes the hardest question. How families separate ownership, leadership and family roles, and keep sibling relationships intact.
How do I speak to the press as the next-generation leader?
Journalists will ask about your parent, your family and whether you earned the role. How a family successor prepares for press interviews, works with communications advisers and answers the hard questions.
Succession planning vs successor preparation: the difference
Succession planning arranges ownership, governance and timing. Successor preparation readies the person who will lead. Why family businesses need both, and who does each.
What should a succession timeline look like?
A practical succession timeline for a family business, in phases: from the first decision to the years after the handover, with the ownership, leadership and family work that belongs in each.
What should a successor development plan include?
A practical structure for a successor development plan in a family business: the role, the timeline, an honest baseline, development areas, real responsibilities, support, milestones and reviews.
How do you prepare a successor to lead a family beverage distributor?
A family beverage distributor depends on supplier agreements, state law and retailer trust. What a successor needs to prepare for, and why the legal side has to be checked early.