It’s a popular idea right now, but should it really be the goal of every entrepreneur to take themselves out of their business?  

I was having this conversation with a group of clients recently to just challenge them on the idea.

A business needs a vision keeper, a thought leader.  

Someone who drives the core idea on which the business is built.

A leader that constantly challenges everyone in the business to deliver truly differentiated value.

Without that, the business is commoditised and price becomes the differentiator.

That leader is usually the founder, because the founder has real skin in the game and probably the originator of the business idea.

For the founder to get out of the business, they need to find a paid leader who can replace their driving force, and that is hard to do.

John Maxwell says “everything rises and falls on leadership” – I agree with him.

Without differentiated leadership, any business risks a loss of differentiated value.

Without differentiated value, the only differentiator becomes lowest price.

In fact, one view might be that the only true competitive advantage, that can’t be replicated just by spending money, is the differentiation of great leadership.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

#modelsmethod #visualmodels #leadership