The Superpower Series, Week 3 of 8: The Chief Decider
The last several weeks we’ve been taking a look at roles that the founder needs to let go of when finally scaling the company. Last week was the Technical Expert, the founder the team brings its hardest problems to. This week is the Chief Decider, the founder the team brings its decisions to.
The Chief Decider
This one hides inside otherwise competent leadership teams all the time.
You’ve hired good people. They have titles, budgets, and teams. On paper, they have authority.
And still:
“Can you just take a look at this?”
“What do you think?”
“Would you approve this?”
Dozens of times a day. In the hallway, in Slack, by text at nine at night. Big decisions, sure. But surprisingly small ones, too.
You keep answering because you’re good at answering. Your call is usually a good one. It’s fast. It saves everybody a meeting.
And every answer makes your team more dependent on you.
From the outside, it looks like a leadership meeting where everyone talks, and then everyone turns to look at you. A VP who runs a seven-figure budget but won’t sign a modest contract without checking first. A decision that should take a day takes a week, because it’s waiting for a slot on your calendar.
Note the paradox. A founder who decides fast can still run a company that decides slowly. You can be both the most decisive person in the building and the reason nothing gets decided.
“You Decide” Isn’t Delegation
Most founders who see this do the obvious thing. They tell people, “You decide.”
It rarely works. Your team has spent years learning that the real decision happens in your office. “You decide,” with nothing behind it, sounds like a test. So they decide, and then they check. Or they bring it to you anyway, dressed up as an FYI.
The work isn’t telling people to decide. It’s making clear:
—Which decisions belong where
—What principles should guide them
—What risks are acceptable
—When something actually needs to come to you
That isn’t an email, or a declaration in a meeting. It’s a lot of conversations, some of them uncomfortable, until it’s real for everybody.
Including you.
The Decision You Wouldn’t Have Made
Then comes the hardest part. Someone makes a perfectly reasonable decision that is not the decision you would have made.
Not wrong. Different one. A vendor you wouldn’t have picked. A price you’d have set higher. A hire you’d have passed on.
Every instinct says weigh in. “Just a thought.” “Have you considered…” You mean it as input. They hear it as a reversal. And next time, they’ll check with you first. Again.
Notice the small jolt when you hear about a call you wouldn’t have made. It’s rarely about the vendor. It’s about who gets the last word around here, and how long that’s been you. You always got to be right. And its been holding you back for years.
If everyone has authority only when they agree with you, you haven’t actually delegated any authority.
Once you see that, letting a reasonable decision stand gets a lot lighter.
A Question for This Week
For one week, notice every time someone asks you “What do you think?” or “Can you take a look?”
For each one, ask yourself: whose decision was that, really? And did they know it?
There are six other roles founders often end up having to let go of. To see them all, check out my post on Substack.
Next week: The Rescuer. A customer gets upset, a deadline slips, and in comes the founder. Again.
— Jeff