Should my succession plan tell my kids exactly which one of them runs the business?

No. The Founder's Mandate is a framework of intention, not a list of role assignments. Kris Kluver, in The Dysfunctional Family Office, treats the Mandate as a tool that sets up the conversation, not one that dictates the outcome. You write down what you want the wealth and the business to do. You don't pre-assign who runs what. The plan that emerges might involve one kid running the company. It might involve all of them. It might involve selling and transitioning out entirely. The Mandate makes those conversations possible. It doesn't pre-empt them. Founders who try to assign roles in advance, based on birth order or personal mythology, almost always pick wrong. The Mandate avoids that mistake by leaving the who and the how for the family to design together.