Cameron HeroldFounder of the COO Alliance & Invest In Your Leaders Training

The #1 Problem in Family-Run Businesses | Claudine Ripert

14 May 2026 · 1 min

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1:05

Claudine Ripert says the biggest problem in family businesses is that emotional ties blur professional boundaries. Parents struggle to be seen as CEOs instead of just mom or dad, making it hard to enforce accountability when family members won't take them seriously as leaders.

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Family-run enterprises have both an upside and a downside. There's pros and cons. What are some of the pros of working with family and what are some of the cons of working with family?
This has been my dream to work with my kids. I think the pros is giving them responsibility and seeing them take it on and just flourish with it and just growing into accountable, responsible adults. That part has just been absolutely beautiful to see. The very thing that's a pro is also a con. Sometimes there's a lack of understanding and accountability to situations that arise, not just having that perspective on things, just getting really emotionally tied to, to a situation. And, and it's very hard for me to come in because then I do, I sound like mom. It's always the default is they see me as mom first and their boss or their CEO as second or third or maybe even like fourth, more than way down the line. I've got to run through those filters first. It's like, no, we're just talking about the business here. This is not about anything else.