Coach a peer at your same management level with no hierarchical authority — the challenge here is separating friendship from neutrality, not authority from support.

When he opens sensitive topic, say "tell me more" vs reply.

Don't ask "do we need another hire?" — ask "if we started today with nobody, who'd we hire first?".

Design a 3-phase leadership onboarding plan: Learn (30) → Contribute (60) → Own (90) — instead of leaving the new member to "figure it out alone".