Some leaders take pride in leading from the front. They’re in the trenches with their team. They never delegate a task they wouldn’t do themselves. It earns respect, builds morale, and inspires loyalty.
But it can also destroy the value of their business.
According to data from The Value Builder System™, companies where the owner is the hub get offers that are 35% lower than those that run independently of their founder.
Buyers don’t pay top dollar for a company that revolves around its owner. They want a business, not a boss.
Doug Lowenthal learned that the hard way.
When Dedication Becomes a Liability
Doug spent nearly 20 years building TruTechnology, a multi-million dollar IT services firm. He believed leadership meant doing whatever it took, managing the help desk, answering support tickets, even working through holidays. His team respected him, but the pressure was nonstop.
Eventually it caught up to him. One day Doug felt a crushing weight in his chest. Convinced he was having a heart attack, he rushed to the hospital. It turned out to be a false alarm, but it was a turning point.
Doug realized he had built a successful business, but he was at the center of everything. His team was capable, but he just hadn’t let go.
Letting Go Made It Valuable
That scare pushed him to change. Doug handed over real ownership to his department heads. He tied bonuses to profit. He opened the books and taught his team how the business actually made money. From gross margin to operating expenses, EBITDA became everyone’s North Star.
His team started thinking like owners. The business began to run without him.
Not long after, Doug sold TruTechnology to Evergreen Services Group in a 100% cash deal, proof that stepping back doesn’t erode value; it creates it.
As a business owner, you're familiar with the challenges and complexities that come with steering your company day-to-day. You need to deal with this one issue before you can move on to items such as growth potential, recurring revenue, or layered sustainable competitive advantage. This issue is not solely for business owners that are looking to sell. If Doug had an actual heart attack and survived but could not work or he died, his business was worth nothing.
There is no reason why you need to take this huge risk. We work with you using a simple process to remove you from the day-to-day operations so that you can focus on high value projects.
You are going to analyze how you are spending your time for two weeks using the voice features of your cell phone.
You are going to identify the low value activities that you can delegate and delegate them.
This will give you the capacity to train your management team on business development, relationship management, and how their position drives growth within the company.
You will use this capacity to allow you to spend your time managing the company in a strategic manner from a place that will not leave you more tired, more burnt out, and more distant from your family or fiends.