The Single Biggest Responsibility Of Every Founder/CEO For Sustainable Growth

As the CEO/founder, you have one job.

It’s almost terrifying to think it’s that simple. “After all this time, I only have one job?”

I’ve struggled with this for years. Dare I say, decades? I thought everything deserved my attention at the start of leading my business.

And over time, with a lot of bumps along the way, I learned:

Great founders/CEOs are generalists.

In the beginning, you have no choice but to start in a role that is the most necessary for the company’s success. Your role can shift daily, maybe even hourly.

You adapt your priorities to what’s most important.

The best founders/CEOs are a jack-of-all-trades. Jeff Seibert says,

“Their value doesn’t come from doing one single thing exceedingly well. It comes from being able to perform an array of things fairly well, and then having the awareness to find someone better than them to take over those responsibilities — allowing them to move on to the next most important role and the next most-consequential hire.”

For me, over the years, I’ve closed new client accounts, managed a VIP client account, prospected daily, wrote every email, blog post, and social media post, I learned basic code and designed a website (I know, stupid, but I’ve found the skill very helpful), hired new team members, managed the financial statements, managed a team, among hundreds of other things.

But at some point…

When you’re the one in the middle of everything, you become the bottleneck.

Trying to force 26-hours into a 24-hour day isn’t an effective strategy.

In the early days of the business, wearing multiple hats was essential, but over time when there’s only one head, you start to look like a clown.

It’s impossible to focus on everything effectively.

Everything important began to get a small percentage of my attention, and I became the bottleneck to everything, stalling our progress.

Your one job is to perform the role, then hire someone better.

It’s the basis of the book, Who Not How.

There’s always someone better than you, which is why you need to begin to hire generalists in those areas.

For over a decade, I’ve led my sales team. But over the years, I noticed that I’d become the bottleneck in that area.

With my focus on too many areas of the business, I wasn’t giving my daily sales management the time and energy it deserves.

I needed someone more skilled in sales management than myself, so I hired someone for that role.

I find it helpful to know how to do something, so I can adequately manage and coach my team, but performing the role should be someone else’s responsibility.

CEOs/founders need to find the who’s to execute the hows, as long as it progresses the company objective.

Constantly ask yourself, “who’s my who?” Then, find that person.