Build Something That Outlasts You

There's a simple test I give leaders who feel stuck. Imagine you disappear for thirty days. No calls, no messages, no meetings. What happens to your team?

If the honest answer is "it would stall" or "it would fall apart", you haven't failed. You've learned something important about what you've built so far.

A team that needs you for everything is a job with a bigger title. A team that keeps moving while you rest is the start of something that can outlast you.

Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. — Sun Tzu

Why letting go is so hard

Sun Tzu wrote that soldiers placed where there is no retreat discover strength they didn't know they had. Partners are similar. Many only find out what they can do when the leader stops doing it for them.

Letting go is hard for honest reasons. You care about the people. You can do it faster yourself. And being needed feels good, which is the most uncomfortable reason to admit.

Each of those reasons keeps the team small. Every task you hold on to is a task nobody else learns, and every decision you make for someone is a decision they never practise.

What letting go actually looks like

• Answer questions with questions. When a partner asks what to do, ask what they think first. Then add only what's missing.
• Hand over the room. Let partners run trainings and meetings, even when you'd do it better. Sit at the back and stay quiet.
• Let small mistakes happen. Step in when something would hurt a customer or a person. Otherwise let them learn the way you did.
• Measure yourself differently. Count how many leaders are growing without you, not how many people need you.

What you get back

When it works, something changes for everyone. Partners grow in confidence because they've been trusted. The team keeps moving through holidays, illness and busy seasons.

And the leader gets something back that is easy to forget: time to think, to plan, and to look after their own life. That time comes from one place only: leaders around you who no longer need you.

Next week

This is the last post before my book, 直銷孫子兵法之不戰而勝, goes on sale on 20 October. The whole book builds towards this idea: a team that grows because of how you led, not because you never left.

If you've been reading these posts over the past months, thank you. The first chapter is free to read on this site if you'd like to see where it begins.

So try the test this week. If you disappeared for thirty days, what would your team do, and what could you start handing over tomorrow?