Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Key Takeaways
- Scaling starts with people, not systems — and the biggest bottlenecks are usually created by founders themselves through unclear decision rights, weak middle management, over-dependence on the founder and a one-size-fits-all approach to leadership development.
- The shift from entrepreneur to CEO is the shift from doing the work to removing obstacles for the people responsible for doing it — or as one leader put it, moving from two hands to 40.
If you want to build a company and scale it into something truly remarkable, you must grasp one principle above all others: your people will determine your success or your failure. And the most important person in this equation is you.
Your role as a CEO is not only to create a roadmap for accomplishing your company’s mission but to remove obstacles for the people responsible for helping you do it. All too often, new business owners unknowingly do just the opposite. Stuck in an entrepreneurial mindset, they create internal hurdles that stunt progress instead of paving a smoother path to success. It’s time to start thinking like a leader to diagnose — and fix — these hidden bottlenecks.
Why business growth requires a people-driven leadership mindset
Early in our journey as entrepreneurs, my brother Sterling and I learned that scalability begins not with systems or even vision but with people. When individuals are equipped to operate at their highest potential, momentum builds. Energy compounds. It’s a force multiplier. That is why scaling starts by adopting a deliberate leadership mindset, not just an entrepreneurial objective. Without it, business owners will create internal bottlenecks that stall growth long before market conditions become the problem. Don’t fall into this trap. For companies struggling to scale, here are the most common yet often overlooked leadership mistakes I’ve found are holding them back — and how to fix them.
1. Unclear decision rights in your team
A lack of clear role definitions between founders and leaders can stall momentum out of the gate — a scaling challenge my brother and I faced head-on. When we founded our first shared business, we struggled with figuring out our respective roles as leaders. At one point, we even found ourselves bickering over titles — talk about a waste of time — all in the name of trying to determine how critical decisions would inevitably be made.
What we learned is that different leadership styles can be complementary when properly leveraged, and decision rights should be doled out accordingly. For example, Sterling is very research-driven while I tend to be more of a risk taker. Assigning decisions that demand analytical evaluation to Sterling and creative choices to me reduces friction as we grow.
- Conduct a team strengths assessment to identify complementary capabilities.
- Map out clear roles and responsibilities for all leadership positions.
- Create a conflict resolution protocol for leadership disagreements.
2. Weak middle management
As businesses scale, I’ve learned that the employees we onboard initially are not necessarily the same people we need to jump to the next level. Specifically, we’ve seen loyalty to early employees conflict with the need for higher-level capabilities, which results in stalled growth. This is why having a plan to upgrade your middle management structure and accountability is essential for future scalability. If you can’t build these team members up and keep tabs on their capabilities, you’re going to be faced with some hard decisions down the road.
The best way to foster the quality of your middle management team is by assessing employees with objective tools rather than subjective impressions. We use the DISC assessment to understand how our employees’ personal values line up with what we need from leaders.
- Conduct a skills gap analysis comparing current team capabilities with future needs.
- Develop a performance assessment framework that objectively evaluates capability versus potential.
- Create individual development plans for team members with growth potential.
3. Founder dependency
Over the last two decades, I’ve watched clinicians set on starting their own practice struggle with letting go of the need to personally treat every patient. Many equate their professional identity with hands-on care. That mindset, while admirable, is a ceiling on scalability. Here’s the rub: a successful CEO must delegate, no matter the industry. Your role is no longer to do everything on your own but to empower your team to deliver results according to your blueprint. My brother Sterling describes this shift as “moving from two hands to 40 hands.”
As your business grows, developing a keen sense of self-awareness about your strengths and weaknesses will help you embrace delegation and build teams that complement your capabilities, saving you time and aiding long-term growth.
- Complete a personal analysis identifying your strengths and weaknesses as a leader.
- Identify three tasks you currently perform that could be delegated and create transition plans for each.
- Develop a personal leadership development plan focused on acquiring CEO-level skills.
4. Lack of leadership development
Not everyone wants to manage people. However, I’ve learned that everyone can be a leader in their area of expertise. Understanding this is critical to taking your organization to the next level.
Scaling a business successfully requires every type of leader, including subject matter experts, task masters and individual contributors. This is why leadership development should be tailored to individual aspirations rather than following a one-size-fits-all approach.
In our companies, we create defined leadership tracks to do this. For example, an entrepreneur track for aspiring business owners and a technical track for skill-focused clinicians. Depending on an employee’s motivations, we put them in a track-specific training program.
- Develop a leadership competency framework for your organization.
- Create distinct career tracks (technical, managerial, entrepreneurial) with clear progression steps.
- Design a project-based leadership development program.
Start clearing hidden leadership bottlenecks now before they impact growth
The quality of your team directly impacts your ability to scale a business successfully, and it starts with you. So if growth is stalling, start by taking these steps to clear out the internal leadership bottlenecks that could be holding you back:
- Clarify decision rights across teams.
- Upgrade your management structure and accountability.
- Reduce founder dependency and build a self-sustaining leadership team.
Using the framework and fixes provided here, everyone from founders to middle management team members will be equipped to operate at their highest potential — and momentum will build.
Key Takeaways
- Scaling starts with people, not systems — and the biggest bottlenecks are usually created by founders themselves through unclear decision rights, weak middle management, over-dependence on the founder and a one-size-fits-all approach to leadership development.
- The shift from entrepreneur to CEO is the shift from doing the work to removing obstacles for the people responsible for doing it — or as one leader put it, moving from two hands to 40.
If you want to build a company and scale it into something truly remarkable, you must grasp one principle above all others: your people will determine your success or your failure. And the most important person in this equation is you.
Your role as a CEO is not only to create a roadmap for accomplishing your company’s mission but to remove obstacles for the people responsible for helping you do it. All too often, new business owners unknowingly do just the opposite. Stuck in an entrepreneurial mindset, they create internal hurdles that stunt progress instead of paving a smoother path to success. It’s time to start thinking like a leader to diagnose — and fix — these hidden bottlenecks.
Why business growth requires a people-driven leadership mindset
Early in our journey as entrepreneurs, my brother Sterling and I learned that scalability begins not with systems or even vision but with people. When individuals are equipped to operate at their highest potential, momentum builds. Energy compounds. It’s a force multiplier. That is why scaling starts by adopting a deliberate leadership mindset, not just an entrepreneurial objective. Without it, business owners will create internal bottlenecks that stall growth long before market conditions become the problem. Don’t fall into this trap. For companies struggling to scale, here are the most common yet often overlooked leadership mistakes I’ve found are holding them back — and how to fix them.