The UncrownedCEO.
Taking the seat, not just the title.
Lead your family’s business with the Clarity, Confidence, and Control to make the role your own.
Make the role
your own.
Taking the seat means deciding how you will lead inside a business with a history that began before you.
The Uncrowned CEO is written for next-generation family business leaders already in the role or preparing to step into it. It examines the three-generation curse, the system you inherit, and the leadership you want to build.
Some decisions require a clearer handoff. Others require you to trust your judgment and follow through. Knowing the difference helps you put your effort where it belongs.
Order on Amazon- Clarify the authority you carry.Identify which decisions are yours, where authority remains with your predecessor, and what needs to be agreed explicitly.
- Lead within longstanding relationships.Work through the parent who is also your boss, the founder who remains involved, and the team who watched you grow up.
- Build Clarity, Confidence, and Control.Define what guides you, make decisions before certainty arrives, and follow through when people are used to a different version of you.
The free companion workbook brings the book’s exercises together in a fillable PDF.
Get the Free Companion WorkbookBring The Uncrowned CEO
to your audience.
A conversation about taking the seat: the authority, relationships, and self-leadership that shape how next-generation family business leaders lead.
Ben helps audiences distinguish what needs to change in the handoff from what they can change in their own leadership. The work makes room for both: respecting what the family built and choosing how to lead it forward.
What your audience will explore
- How to recognize an unresolved transfer of authority and name the decisions that need a clearer agreement.
- How family expectations and longstanding relationships shape leadership inside the business.
- How Clarity, Confidence, and Control help leaders decide, communicate, and follow through as themselves.
Next-Generation Family Business CEOs
G2, G3, G4+ leaders already in the seat, leading the business while navigating the family relationships around it.
Rising-Generation Leaders
Next-in-line leaders preparing for the responsibility, relationships, and choices that come with the role.
Family Enterprise Programs
University-affiliated family enterprise centers, executive education programs, and rising-generation cohorts.
Family Office Convenings
Family gatherings, advisor partner networks, and family office summits where next-generation leaders come together.
Share your event details, audience, and date. We’ll discuss the format and focus that fit your room.
Feedback on Ben’s Speaking
"A wonderful day and impactful experience for our staff agency-wide. Your messaging resonated with so many and was incredibly well received."
Sr. Executive Assistant to the COO · CDC
The book and field guide for
after the talk.
Keynote audiences receive a copy of The Uncrowned CEO to continue the work after the talk.
Additionally, attendees may sign up to receive You Got the Seat, a free 12-page field guide with a 75-point self-diagnostic to help first-year family business CEOs assess their leadership and identify where to focus next.
View the Field Guide →
Dr. Benjamin Ritter
Dr. Benjamin Ritter is the founder of Live for Yourself (LFY) Consulting and an executive leadership coach who works with CEOs, founders, and next-generation family business leaders. His work centers on self-leadership: helping leaders think clearly, trust their judgment, and lead in a way that is genuinely their own.
He is the author of The Uncrowned CEO and the Amazon bestseller Becoming Fearless.
He has coached more than 500 leaders globally, including executives from Amazon, Google, DoorDash, Mayo Clinic, Northwestern, and the CDC, along with next-generation leaders inside family-owned operating companies. His work has been featured in Forbes and Fast Company.
Explore family business leadership coaching →
Taking the seat,
not just the title.
Explore the work in the book, or bring the conversation to the leaders in your room.