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Is my dad sabotaging me on purpose or is something else going on?

Framework: Seagull Leader · Chapter: Ch 8: The Patterns

Almost certainly something else. Most Seagull behavior is driven by loneliness and lost identity, not malice. Kris Kluver, in The Dysfunctional Family Office, describes a Pacific Northwest founder whose disruptive behavior toward his daughter wasn't sabotage. He had been lonely for years. The company had been his identity for four decades. He had no idea who he was without it, and nobody had ever asked him what came next. The pattern is structural across many founders. The retirement plan addressed the wealth and the operations. It didn't address the founder's identity, daily purpose, or social life. So the founder filled the gap by interfering with the business they had handed off. The fix is rebuilding the founder's life outside the business. Without that rebuild, the Seagull behavior usually continues.

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