Founders usually start off doing everything. They’re the glue that holds the company together in the beginning. They’re in the weeds executing to move the company forward. As the company grows, that’s not scalable, and founders begin delegating (or they should). This usually means they’re managing the executors or managing the managers. If done correctly, this allows founders to look at things from 50,000 feet, metaphorically speaking, and think more strategically about the business.

Having to think only high-level about the business is a great thing. I remember when I was able to do this. It felt like I was lifting my head above the clouds and seeing the horizon clearly. Once you’re above the clouds, it can be hard to go back.

Today I spoke with a founder who has removed himself from the weeds of his business, but it isn’t going well. The business isn’t performing as it should, and he knows he needs to replace the people who are executing (or failing to execute). The problem is that he doesn’t want to go back to executing. He can’t wrap his mind around doing that type of work again.

I lived this situation myself in the early days of CCAW, so I can relate. I delayed making changes because I didn’t want to get back in the weeds of a specific area of the company. That delay proved costly and the business suffered. The business lost so much traction that I was ultimately forced to go deep into the weeds to identify the issue and reverse the damage. I had waited so long that we had a razor-thin margin of error. With the support of others team members, I dug in and figured things out. We reversed the trajectory, and I was ultimately able to get back out of the weeds. With the problem solved, the team thanked me for jumping in alongside them. They hadn’t expected it (neither had I!), and they appreciated it.

My lesson from this was that I should’ve always been ready to jump in and do what was needed. I was the founder and it was my company, but I wasn’t above getting into the weeds. Founders do what needs to be done, even when they don’t want to.