If you’ve been running your business for a while, chances are you’ve gotten good at wearing all the hats. You’ve done the sales, the ops, the finance. Built the thing and fixed the thing. Pulled a win out of nowhere when things get wobbly. But true leadership isn’t about doing it all, it’s about knowing what’s yours to hold, and what’s holding you back.
But the habits that helped you start your business? They’re probably not the ones that will help you scale it. And doing everything yourself, while it might feel efficient, is costing you more than just time.
There’s the energy load, the decision fatigue, the creeping sense that you’re flat out all the time but still not moving fast. And it’s quietly undermining your leadership.
Let’s call it what it is: the invisible cost of holding on too tight.
Wearing every hat? Here’s what it’s really costing you.
When every decision flows through you, every email lands in your inbox, and every problem is “just quicker if I handle it”, you’re not leading. You’re buffering.
It feels productive, sure. But what you’re really doing is slowing the whole machine down. Even if you’re good at all those things (and you probably are), that doesn’t mean they should live on your plate.
The real cost? Opportunity.
You don’t see it at first. But while you’re deep in the weeds, no one’s driving the bigger picture. The cheap hourly tasks are getting done, but the $10k decisions keep getting postponed. You’re reacting instead of directing.
Why CEOs struggle to let go (even when we know better)
Most founders know they need to delegate. That’s not the issue.
The issue is trust. And clarity. And maybe a little bit of ego.
Letting go isn’t just a task thing, it’s an identity shift. It means giving away control of things you’ve built, trained people for, or just always handled yourself. But true leadership means knowing when to step back so others can step up.
And yeah, sometimes it is quicker to just do it yourself… until you’ve spent another 3 months “just doing it yourself” and wondering why your growth feels stuck.
Letting go well takes a bit of work upfront. But once you’ve got the right person in the right seat, it changes everything. You move faster, cleaner, and with way less noise.
So… what’s no longer yours to hold?
When I work with clients, we don’t start with blanket advice like “just delegate.” We get strategic. Here are a few tools I use to help make that happen:
The $10 vs $10,000/hour task model
Not all work is created equal. If you’re spending your day on $10/hour admin or troubleshooting, the business is missing out on the strategic, high-impact work only you can do. Shifting this lens helps you prioritise where your time actually belongs.
The Love It / Good At It Matrix
We map your tasks by what you love and what you’re good at. Your zone of genius lives at the intersection, that’s your home base as a CEO. Everything else is up for delegation, systemisation, or elimination.
The Accountability Chart
This isn’t a traditional org chart, it’s about clarity. Who owns what outcomes? Where are the handovers messy? Once you’re clear on this, you stop being the default fixer and start building real ownership in the team.
Because this isn’t just about calendar management. It’s about designing a business that can run without you, not because you’re not needed, but because you’re no longer the bottleneck.
Burnout doesn’t always look like collapse
It often looks like this:
- You’re exhausted but can’t stop.
- You second-guess decisions you’d usually make in two seconds.
- You keep rewriting your to-do list, but nothing meaningful shifts.
You’re not lazy or broken. You’re just maxed out. And if you’re still trying to run a growing business like it’s a scrappy startup, it’s no wonder things feel heavy.
You’re not failing, you’re just at capacity.
Let yourself lead like a CEO
When you lead from your zone of genius, everything shifts. Your leadership becomes clearer, more focused, and far more impactful.
You make better decisions. Faster ones. You stop micro-managing and start building trust. Your team knows where they’re headed. You’ve got space to think, not just react.
And you remember what you’re actually good at, and what lights you up. (Because yes, that matters too.)
You don’t need a full restructure overnight. Just start here:
What’s one thing you’re doing that isn’t actually yours to hold?
Let it go. Delegate it. Document it. Or stop doing it altogether.
You didn’t start this business to be your own bottleneck.
You started it to build something bigger than you.
Let yourself lead like that.
~ Marama Carmichael
