CONNECT WITH US
Social Media

Social Media

I’ve Sat on 23 Boards. Here’s What Founders Get Wrong When They Hire a CEO and Step Back

Entrepreneur — Social Media logo

Published on

Add as a preferred source on Google
I’ve Sat on 23 Boards. Here’s What Founders Get Wrong When They Hire a CEO and Step Back

A six-time CEO on making the move from founder to chairman work.

As a six-time CEO who has served on 23 corporate boards, I’ve watched the same story unfold in nearly every sector. An ambitious founder builds a business, reaches the point where they want to step back from daily operations, hires a CEO and moves into the chairman role, assuming the hardest work is behind them. Six months later, the relationship starts to fracture.

The founder feels the new leader is moving too slowly or making different choices, while the CEO feels micromanaged and stripped of authority. Once that trust breaks, the transition meant to unlock the company’s next chapter becomes a source of friction and lost momentum.

Having navigated this handoff from both sides of the table, I call this dynamic “the chairman’s gap”: the gray zone between providing governance and interfering. Staying on the right side of that line doesn’t happen by accident. It requires unlearning the operational habits that made you successful in the first place.

When founders ask me how to make the move from founder to chairman, they usually expect a tactical playbook on board meetings or governance structures. The mechanics matter, but I’ve found the real challenge is psychological.

” You inspect details, solve bottlenecks and drive execution. As chairman, you have to give up ownership of the “how” and focus on the “what” and “why”: setting strategic direction, securing capital and holding your CEO accountable for results.



Source link
Related Topics:Social Media

Disclaimer

We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We TheMorningPulse.fyi want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It's possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.