1. What should the mother do to help her family (and her business) operate more normally?
2. Would bringing in a nonfamily manager with direct-line control over each brother help or cause more problems? How can they ever decide who will eventually take over control of the business?

A family in the Pacific Northwest owns a retail clothing store. Two brothers work in the business, and their mother is president of the company. Sibling rivalry was a problem while the boys were growing up, and now that they are in the family business together, it is reappearing. In addition to her role as president, the mother often finds herself playing the role of referee and “chief emotional officer” when the young men fight. The continued rivalry between the brothers and the mother’s need to intervene between them has interfered with a normally functional business. The family realizes that its business system is entangled with its family system, but they are not sure what to do about it.