Why does it sometimes take a generational handoff for a company to actually grow again?

Because the founder eventually gets tired, comfortable, or both, and tolerated mediocrity quietly sets the company's ceiling. Kris Kluver, in The Dysfunctional Family Office, has Robert Mitchell admit this directly to his adult kids. He had gotten tired. Comfortable. They had tolerated mediocrity longer than they should have. The next generation wouldn't tolerate it the same way. The pattern is common in mature family businesses. The founder built aggressively for decades, then plateaued without realizing it. The team adjusted to the plateau. Growth slowed. The kids inherit a company running at a fraction of its potential because the founder stopped pushing. The next generation, energized and unburdened by the founder's accumulated fatigue, often returns the company to a growth trajectory the founder couldn't access anymore. Mitchell Industries grew 25 percent in the first year under Gail.