Why is the family business under so much pressure right when we're trying to hand it off?

Many founders try to hand off the company at the worst possible moment, when the industry is already shifting and they need every ounce of attention on the business itself. Industry disruption requires fresh thinking, new technology, and new client expectations. Generational transition requires emotional bandwidth, hard conversations, and slow process. The two don't pair well. Kris Kluver argues in The Dysfunctional Family Office that the right response is not to delay the handoff but to recognize that the next generation is often better equipped to drive the company through disruption than the founder is. The pressure is the signal, not the obstacle. Founders who delay the transition because the business is shifting often delay it past the point where the company can recover.