Situation · Work
“I work in my family business and can't step out of my dad's shadow”
What could be going on
Identity foreclosure: Fits if you took on the role without ever exploring others.
Differentiation of self (Bowen): Fits if you struggle to hold your own view around them.
Enmeshment: Fits if family and business have no boundaries.
Founder syndrome: Fits if the parent can't let go of control as you grow.
Family roles (golden child, scapegoat, lost child, mascot): Fits if you're cast as the heir or helper and can't break out.
Oedipal dynamics: Fits if competing with or surpassing the parent feels forbidden.
Questions to carry
- The last time I made a call my dad disagreed with, how did it go, and who backed whom?
- Which decisions in my life feel like mine, and which feel like his?
Also said as
- working for my father is suffocating
- family company and I have no say
- my parent runs the business and still treats me like a kid
- how do I leave the family firm
- my dad runs the company and I'm stuck
- I can't escape my father's expectations in the business