Why do my dad's longtime executives push back on me when I take over?

Senior executives who have spent decades reporting directly to the founder build their identity around that proximity. They aren't necessarily bad operators or hostile to the next generation. They're protective of a relationship the next generation is replacing. Kris Kluver, in The Dysfunctional Family Office, watches Ben Christoff describe transitioning leadership when three of his senior execs had built their identities around orbiting his personality. They weren't excited about the new world order, especially with the founder's last name attached and twenty years younger than them. Most family transitions involve hard decisions about which legacy team members can make the leap and which need to step aside with dignity. Treating it as personal is a mistake. The dynamic is structural and predictable.