How do family members disagree with the new CEO without undermining them?

All disagreements happen in private, never in front of the team or clients. Kris Kluver, in The Dysfunctional Family Office, has Gail Mitchell set this rule with her father Robert at the start of her shadow phase. If she needs to challenge him, she won't do it publicly, only one-on-one. When it's just the two of them, everything is fair game. The same rule applies in reverse. The structure protects the new CEO's authority with the team and clients while preserving honest internal feedback. Without it, every disagreement in a meeting becomes a signal to the team that the new CEO doesn't fully run the company. Within months, end-runs to the founder become the norm and the transition is dead. The discipline is hard for both sides. The founder has to bite his tongue when he disagrees. The new CEO has to absorb private criticism without taking it personally. Kris Kluver works with families on running this rule cleanly at thethirtyadvisors.com.