You didn't start your business just to create another job for yourself, did you? Why did you create your business? I want you to really think about that for a moment. When you started your business, what did you hope for? What were you hoping to create? We talked about success a couple of episodes ago, and I want you to revisit your definition of success when you first started. How has that changed over time? And was there some point along the way where the business started to feel different than you hoped? One of the biggest gaps that I hear from the clients I work with is that there's a point where even though they wanted to create freedom, the business created less and less freedom, and it started to feel more like a treadmill that they just couldn't step off of. That's the point where many business owners come to me. They're right in this messy middle phase where they've grown the business, they've built momentum, they've tried hiring a team, but still everything is flowing through them, and the team is waiting for their feedback. Clients are constantly wanting their attention. Strategic decisions can't move forward without them weighing in. And at that point, there's a question that comes up.

Isn't this what I wanted? Or maybe you phrase it like this. Is this what I really wanted? You're the business owner. But what most people won't admit is that they never fully stepped into the CEO role. And so we need to take a look at that. We need to look at what that means and. And what it's going to take for you to step into that role, because until you do, the business is going to keep leaning on you for things that you should no longer be doing. So we're going to talk about what real CEO ownership looks like and what changes in the business and in your life when you finally claim it. Let's talk about why founders unintentionally stay stuck in the wrong role.

The five responsibilities that only you can own as the CEO and. And the three ownership levels that reveal where you really are and what to shift. So let's start with this. Most founders don't realize they're stuck because on paper, things are moving. They've let go of some tasks, they've delegated a few roles they feel like they're leading. But when you actually zoom out and you look at the business as a whole, if you were to record them day to day or look at their calendar, you see the truth. They're still in their inbox. They're still reviewing client deliverables.

They're still giving feedback, running meetings, managing projects, not because they don't trust their team. Sometimes that's the case, but sometimes the trust is there and there's still a problem because the business, the results, everything still defaults to them. They've never intentionally redefined what their role should be, so they stay involved in it all. And here's the problem with that. If you don't proactively step into the CEO role, your business will keep pulling you back into the one you already know. There's a role that you step into by default. You're the one who's executing all the things. You're the catch all, you are doing it all.

And that's how you end up being the person who does everything except what actually moves the business forward. And it's why so many high performing founders feel stuck. And they've grown, but their role hasn't evolved. They've built the business, but they're not truly leading it. The reality is that there's five responsibilities in your business that no one else can fully own. They're the responsibilities of a CEO. And oftentimes what I see is that these responsibilities are completely ignored or at best just not priority until they become an urgent necessity. And so if these five things are ignored, then the business isn't moving forward.

The role of CEO isn't actually being fulfilled, and we've got to change that. So what are these five responsibilities? First is vision. Vision is all about setting direction, casting, what's next, making the future clear before it's obvious. The second responsibility is team leadership. This isn't managing every team member, it's not managing all of the day to day work. It's leadership. And there's a difference. This is about building culture, alignment and ownership.

It's about helping your team rise. Third is thought leadership. Owning your voice, your positioning, your ideas, your shaping the market's perception of your brand and of your body of work and creating assets that keep working for you. Fourth is relationship building. Cultivating the connections that grow your visibility, your partnerships give you more opportunities. And fifth is strategic decision making. Not making all of the calls, but making the ones that truly shape where the business is headed, what to pursue, what to pause, what to protect. If you're not spending the majority of your time on these five things, then you're not leading and you are not showing up as the CEO in your business.

You're showing up day to day in the business. You're keeping things running, but you're probably too ingrained in the work itself. And I know, because I hear it from so many that you are already working a lot and you're like, wait, how can I add any more to my plate? But I want you to know that you don't need to add more hours to step into this. We need to free up your time and get you out of some of the responsibilities that don't need to be on your plate to give you the time and to protect these responsibilities that really matter most. So let's talk about what that shift actually looks like. There are three levels of ownership that founders typically operate in. I want to go through all three with you. @ the lowest level is a contributor.

A contributor is someone who's focused on implementation. They are in the weeds. They are doing work themselves. Then there's a conductor. This is someone who's managing the people, the systems, the resources. They're delegating, they're directing traffic, they're ensuring things get done on time. Then there's the catalyst, the one focused on driving the vision, elevating the team, making strategic moves that create exponential results. And you may play at each of these ownership levels at different points, but what we want to see is that we move you to the majority of your time being on the top end, where you spend more time as a catalyst, some time perhaps as a conductor.

But we really want to see you move as much as possible out of contributor, and then even ideally out of conductor. Most founders are still toggling between contributor and conductor day to day, without even realizing that catalyst is where they need to be. The catalyst doesn't happen by accident. You have to design for it. You have to decide to rise. And that means letting go of the illusion that your value comes from doing the work. That's a big shift. I know you're an expert.

I know that you're great at what you do, but you can't be the one to do it all. It also means stepping out of daily management, stepping out of that conductor role and fully into leadership. Because until you rise into catalyst mode, the business will always pull you back into what's urgent instead of what's essential. You have a role that's an important and necessary role in the business. And that CEO role mostly consists of that catalyst mode. I want you to look at it this way. Leading from the wrong seat is like trying to be the mvp, the coach, the referee, all at the same time. If you're constantly on the court, but the game isn't moving the way you want it to, and you're the business owner, then you've got to lead, and that means you've got to step off the court and you need to start coaching.

You've got to step into the role that changes the outcome, not just keeps the game going. That's what the CEO seat is for. Too many of you are trying to lead the business while you're on the court. You've got a team around you, but you're not being a team player. I know when my son plays basketball, luckily, at the age he's at now and with the teammates he's working with, he's got an incredible team. But over the years, there were definitely times where parents would be talking on the sidelines about certain kids being a ball hog. And I want you to think about how that applies to your business. When we're talking about basketball and there's a player who constantly holds onto the ball and never passes the ball, they're always the one trying to make the shots.

That doesn't work well. It's not developing the full team, and it doesn't set the team up to succeed long term. Even if you make a few more shots in the short term, it's not what's best overall. And when you're the expert who's running a business and you're staying on the court and you're still trying to do it yourself, and you're trying to make sure everything happens and you're the kid in the corner, even when someone else has the ball, like waving your hands, calling for them to pass it to you instead of letting them take the shot, you're holding your business back. Your role is not to be on the court anymore. Your business has grown to the point where you don't have to be on the court. You're choosing to be on the court, but you don't have to be. In fact, your business needs you on the sideline.

It needs you to coach. It needs you in that catalyst role. So here's what I want you to do right now. I want you to look at how you're spending your time. Are you operating as a contributor, as a conductor, or a catalyst? What percentage of your time is in each of those roles? In a given day, in a given week, if someone were to watch a video of you working, what title would they think that you have? Would they realize that you're the CEO? If not, then choose something to shift this week. Start making a change now. Choose something that frees you up to focus more on vision, on leadership, on strategy. That gives you a little bit more time in that CEO role.

Because your business doesn't just need more from you. It needs more of the right things from you. It needs more of the CEO.