Who, Not How: The Key to Scaling Without Burning Out

I can’t tell you how many CEOs I’ve met who hit a wall because they’re asking the wrong question.

They come to me overwhelmed, growth stalled, team not aligned, and stuck working long hours in the business – and they say, “How do I do this?” It’s a fair question, but it’s one that will pull you straight into the CEO Doom Loop.

The better question is: “WHO can help me do this?”

Finding the right WHOs and investing in those WHOs is the investment that can generate 10x growth.

You’re in the People Business

The company can only grow as fast as its talent. Truly as fast as its CEO, and definitely no faster than its leadership team can grow. That’s where most CEOs get stuck.

The truth is that many of the WHOs who got you here aren’t the WHOs who will get you there.

It’s one of the most difficult challenges in business  –  not just finding the right people, but having the courage to part ways with team members who aren’t growing with the company. CEOs who avoid those decisions end up carrying the weight of the business on their own shoulders, and they stay stuck.

As Marshall Goldsmith said, “What got you here won’t get you there.” Dan Sullivan and Dr. Ben Hardy go one step further: “What got you here won’t get you there. But it can keep you here.” In other words, it can keep you STUCK here.

That’s what happens when we hang on to old roles, old habits, or the wrong WHOs, even when we know it’s time to grow.

Delegation as a Skill

The philosophy behind 10x thinking is to strip away 80% of what we do and focus on the 20% that truly provides the returns. Each of us should be doing just that – our unique 20% – and delegate or offload the rest.

This is where the 10x philosophy overlaps with the Metronomics system we use to power our coaching. We talk a lot about focusing on your top three to five priorities. That’s where your energy needs to go, your 20%. The rest of it is the 80% you need to stop doing.

Ask yourself: Who can I find that can do this? Who is highly skilled at this thing and can I hire them? Can I buy back my time and have someone doing it using their 20% versus me using my 80% to do something I'm not that good at?

Bigger Goals Require Better WHOs

I was watching the football championship playoffs a while back and some key concepts were demonstrated during those games:

1). having the right people in the right roles,

2.) having a coach on the sidelines that could see the whole game,

3.) having the quarterback on the field that was leading the team,

4.) having the huddles and making quick decisions and

5.) executing those decisions. 

They were all amazing teams. By the finals, there were two exceptional teams, but there’s only one winner. The winner executed a little bit better. They had a slightly better strategy. More than that, they had a better team – better WHOs. If your business runs like one of those football teams, you become unstoppable.

Once the CEO or business owner adopts that mindset and it clicks, we set a bold 10x goal (a BHAG). Then we determine how we get there and who are the right WHOs to help us get there.

One of the most important things a CEO can do is stop trying to be the answer to everything. If you’re always the answer, it’s a short road to becoming the bottleneck – and winding up in the CEO Doom Loop!

If you’re serious about scaling without burning out, start here:

• Who’s missing from your team?

• Who’s in the wrong seat?

• Who’s ready to help you grow?

If this is a challenge you’re exploring, contact us here. We help CEO and leadership teams optimize their time and resources, get aligned, and grow through business and executive team coaching.