Build Your Dream Leadership Team

Most CEOs are babysitting their leadership teams.
(And they don’t even realize it.)

You’re solving problems your execs should handle.

Making decisions they should own.

Pushing for results they should drive.

Meanwhile, your competition has leaders who think like owners and deliver without oversight.

The difference? They stopped managing and started building.

After coaching 400+ CEOs, I’ve seen the pattern.

Average leaders hire smart people then do all the heavy lifting.

Great leaders build systems that create self-managing teams.

7 steps that actually work:

1. Stop imposing your vision. Co-create it.

When leaders build the future together, they defend it.

One CEO spent 2 days with his team crafting their vision.

Result? They hit targets he never even set.

2. Put the right people in the right seats.

Rate every leader:
Do they live your values?
Excel in their role?

Below 7/10 on either?
Make the move. Fast.

3. Create your operating system together.

How will you debate? Decide? Disagree?
Document it. Live it. Reference it daily.

Dysfunction disappears when everyone follows agreed rules.

4. Build trust through conflict.

Teams that never disagree never excel.

Your new response to pushback: “Thank you, tell me more.”

Watch what happens when disagreement becomes safe.

5. Give autonomy with clarity.

Define the sandbox. Then get out.

What decisions can they make alone?
What’s their budget authority?

Answer these or keep babysitting forever.

6. Make accountability transparent.

It’s not about catching failures.
It’s about creating visibility.

When everyone sees everyone’s commitments, standards rise naturally.

Public scoreboards beat private conversations.

7. Invest in growth conversations.

Your highest-leverage hours aren’t in strategy sessions.

They’re asking: “How can I help you grow?”

Then actually investing in their answer.

Most CEOs think building great teams takes years.

It doesn’t.

It takes deciding you’re done being the bottleneck.

Here’s what no one tells you:

Your team could be extraordinary right now.

They’re just waiting for you to stop managing.

And start building the system that lets them soar.

Your next quarter doesn’t depend on you doing more.

It depends on you letting them become more.