The greatest risk to your business exit is relational.

When you exit your business, it’s not just a transaction. It is an emotional shift that can ripple through your marriage, your family, and your identity. In this episode, Jerome Myers speaks with Ruschelle Khanna, psychotherapist and author of Inherited Trauma and Family Wealth, about the emotional complexity of exiting a business and why unspoken dynamics can quietly sabotage even the best-laid plans.

Listen now to discover how to protect both your legacy and your relationships.

[00:00 – 13:00] Exit as Emotional Death

• Why a business exit mirrors grief and identity loss
• Common signs of resistance: sabotage, denial, and clinging to control
• The emotional weight on both the exiting founder and the heir
  

[13:01 – 26:00] Marriage, Misalignment, and Mutual Resentment

• How exits reveal cracks in communication and shared meaning
• What Gottman’s 7 Principles reveal about post-exit stress
• Why many spouses feel excluded, even when they say they’re fine

[26:01 – 36:00] Emotional Needs and Adult Tantrums

• HALT (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired): decoding emotional outbursts
• Reparenting your partner: how trauma shows up in conflict
• Why emotional regulation is critical in post-exit life

[36:01 – 50:00] Family Tension and Generational Distance

• How adult children emotionally react to legacy decisions
• Spotting the signs of withdrawal, resentment, or performative agreement
• Avoidance, silence, and the cost of not asking hard questions

[50:01 – End] Trauma, Transition, and Transcendence

• The 5 trauma liabilities: chaos, procrastination, fawning, and more
• Inheriting more than money, modeling emotional clarity
• Choosing joy, presence, and intentionality in your next chapter

Key Quotes:

“A business exit is a tiny death.” – Ruschelle Khanna

“Part of our job in a healthy marriage is to reparent our partner.” – Ruschelle Khanna

Connect with Ruschelle!

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ruschelle-khanna-lifestyle-for-legacy

Website: https://www.lifestyleforlegacy.com/

Ready for your next chapter?

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