Why do founders pick the wrong kid to take over the business?

Most founders make the successor decision privately, based on factors that have very little to do with capability or desire. Birth order. Gender. Old advice from another founder. A story they've told themselves for decades about which kid is the responsible one. Kris Kluver, in The Dysfunctional Family Office, watches Ben Christoff admit that he chose his son Phil for the fund and his daughter Sophie for operations alone, in his head, with no input from either kid. Sophie was the better operator. Phil didn't actually want the fund. The right successor decision is rarely about who the founder thinks the role belongs to. It's about what each kid actually wants, what they're actually good at, and what the business actually needs.