A family business can complete its succession plan and still rely on the outgoing leader for its most consequential decisions. Employees continue to seek that person’s approval, established executives resist new direction and the successor hesitates to exercise the authority their role carries.
A new white paper by Benjamin Ritter, founder of Live for Yourself Consulting, examines this authority gap and how advisors can help families address it. The Authority Gap After Succession: When the Plan Is Complete but the Transition Is Not distinguishes a successor’s readiness to lead from the organization’s acceptance of their leadership.
Through an anonymized case involving a second-generation CEO, Ritter shows how longstanding family and working relationships can keep decision-making tied to the predecessor. The paper follows the successor’s efforts to establish their own leadership approach, set expectations with the executive team and take responsibility for decisions that had been deferred.
Advisors will find a diagnostic for assessing capability and recognition separately, four signs that authority has not transferred in daily operations and four ways to support the transition.
Read the full white paper here.
