When the Producer Won't Let the Leader In
He had the candidate. He had the budget. He had a phased plan with three tiers depending on how the first 90 days went.
And then he asked the room for permission to do it.
His business partner listened to the whole pitch, nodded, and said:
"If you'd walked in and said 'here's phase one, here's the number, I'm calling him tomorrow'... I would've said yes. Immediately."
The room went quiet.
Then I asked him: "What if you just went and did it? Why wait?"
What he responded is probably a moment he's going to remember as pivotal to his growth as a leader.
"Maybe I haven't been ready to be that person."
Here's what was actually happening in that room.
He had everything he needed to move. The candidate was real. The budget made sense. The phased approach was smart. There was nothing left to figure out.
But he walked in building a case instead of making a call.
And that's a pattern I see all the time with founders in the messy middle. They've done the thinking. They know what needs to happen.
They've probably sketched it out six different ways.
And then they bring it to someone else for a green light.
They call it "getting buy-in." Or "being collaborative." Or "making sure we're aligned."
Sometimes that's true.
But sometimes... they just don't think they're ready. So they build one more version of the plan instead.
The producer in them is still running the show. Because a producer's job is to figure it out, get some input, give it a shot. That's how they've operated for years. And it got them here.
But now they've got to mature beyond the all-hands-on-deck scrum.
Responsibilities have to be more clearly separated and owned. People have to be capable, trusted, and accountable.
And that can be a little scary when you're used to looking around the room and getting some affirmation.
It teaches you to try to make things collaborative that aren't collaborative. To get input on things that really just need a decision.
Would you like more information? Sure.
But the decisions are only going to get tougher. More of them with less information, tighter deadlines, higher stakes.
You're going to have to show some discernment as to when you have enough, when you need others' input, and when you just need to make the call.
So here's the question worth asking.
What's the decision you've been treating as collaborative that really just needs you to make the call?
You already know what you'd do if you trusted yourself to move.
So what are you waiting for?
He made the call that week, by the way. Started the conversation. Moved to phase one. The plan didn't change. How he saw himself inside it did.
And this wasn't a lack of confidence. It was 100% force of habit.
He hadn’t realized it was time to ‘grow up’.
That's the kind of shift that starts with knowing where you actually are.
