Founder can't let go
They stepped back as CEO but still come to every meeting, overrule the new leader, and talk to staff directly.
Rule out first
A real handover that needs time. A successor who isn't up to it. Legal or financial ties that require involvement.
What could explain it
Founder syndrome: The company still runs through them informally; staff go round the new leader to reach them, and they allow it.
Narrative identity: Their story of who they are is the company; asked what else they are, they struggle.
Sunk cost fallacy: They talk about what they've already put in rather than what the company needs now.
Hubris syndrome: Open contempt for the successor's judgement and a belief that only they can do it.
Terror management theory: The company is their legacy; letting go carries a quiet dread that sounds like talk of mortality and being forgotten.
Hero projects and the denial of death (Becker): The company is their proof of mattering: they speak of it as their life or their legacy, react to criticism of it as an attack on them, and can't answer what would be left of them without it.
A next move
Ask what they'd do with a year if the company didn't need them. Blankness points to identity; dread to legacy; talk of what they've invested to sunk cost; contempt for successors to hubris.
If it’s you
What part of me lives in something I built, and can I let it go on without me?