An experienced founder explains why he hired a number 2 early to remove himself from daily operations, while Allison Maslan, who built 10 companies, argues that leadership is its own career. Most founders make the mistake of centering themselves in every task instead of building a team that runs without them.
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I've started, built, and sold companies for 60 years. And here's a truth nobody really wants to admit. Every company that I've ever started, I always select my number 2, either before I start the company or before I start building it, or within the first couple of months, because I want to build myself out of a job, not into a job. I feel that every single role that needs to be done in a company can be done by somebody else much more qualified than me. I consider myself a leader. That's the same as the job of a lawyer, an accountant, technology person. Leadership is a career on its own. So my job as a leader is to be the visionary for the company and have myself free of the running and the operations of a company so that I can think about the future, what's going on, what's happening in my space, what's happening in the world, the economics around the company. So I'm really not in the company at all as a leader. I'm outside the company protecting the company from everything that'll attack it. So I hope this helps you in the definition of what a leader can be.
He picks his number 2 before he even starts the company, before he starts, because he's building himself out of a job, not into one. And most founders do the opposite. They make themselves the center of everything, every decision, every client, every fire, and then they wonder why the company cannot grow past them. It cannot because they built it to need them. So here's what I want you to tattoo on your brain. Leadership is its own career. It's not the reward for being good at work. It's a completely different job. Your accountant does the accounting. Your attorney does the law. Your job as a CEO is to lead, to hold the vision, protect the company, and see what's coming before anyone else does. And he said the part that is a freeze-ake for most people. He's not really in the company at all. He's outside of it, watching the world, protecting it from what is coming. And that is not about being disconnected. That is the highest leverage seat a founder can hold. You cannot see the horizon with your face buried in the weeds. So sit with this. If you disappeared for 30 days, would your company be able to run without you? If the answer is no, you don't have a company. You have a job. You can't quit. So build the team that runs it so you can become the leader who grows it. I'm Allison Maslan. I've built 10 of my own companies over the last few decades. And for the last 17 years, my team and I have been running the world's leading women-owned scaling advisory for 7 and 8-figure CEOs. So hit that follow button for direction on scaling your business and your life.
