Audit the Decisions Coming Back to You
For two weeks, record decisions that require your attention. Note who asked, the business impact, the information available, and why the decision reached you. Separate decisions only the founder should own from decisions that lack a standard, authority, or capable owner.
The objective is not to disappear from operations. It is to reserve your attention for direction, resources, critical relationships, and decisions whose consequences warrant it.
Delegate a Decision with Its Boundaries
Specify the outcome, authority, constraints, escalation threshold, and review rhythm. Explain what a good decision considers and what risks must be brought back. Match authority to the person’s readiness and the reversibility of the decision.
A manager cannot own an outcome if every related choice still requires founder approval. Equally, responsibility without information, resources, or clear boundaries creates avoidable failure. Review the design before blaming the individual.
Manage Managers through Outcomes
Agree a small set of operating outcomes and evidence of progress. Use one-to-ones for judgment, feedback, obstacles, and development. Use team reviews for cross-functional decisions and dependencies.
When a manager brings a problem, ask for their assessment, options, recommendation, and the decision they need from you. Coach the reasoning without taking every task back. Step in directly when the business requires it, then address the capability or system gap that caused the intervention.
Build a Leadership Rhythm You Can Maintain
Set a weekly operating review, a periodic financial and capacity review, and a longer-horizon priorities review. The cadence should fit the business, not become a second layer of work. End meetings with decisions, owners, and dates.
Track founder involvement alongside business results. If decisions still pile up with you, revisit ownership and thresholds. Ongoing founder advisory can help you develop this practice; fractional operations is appropriate when the company also needs someone to own a defined operating remit.