Another nice way is to hide the annoying brawling on count/duke level by handing out kingdoms and reigning as an emperor over just a handful of vassals.
This is what I'm attempting currently with my Russian empire. If I have a couple of kings I focus on keeping happy, their troops are usually enough to keep the dukes in my main kingdom for trying anything crazy. Like the guide suggests, I tutor the heirs of said kings and weed out any ambitious heirs when they appear.