Your Top Performers Need Your Support too

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I still remember the call.

A founder client called me after losing one of their best people.

A top performer. Smart. Loyal. Invested.Gone.

“I don’t get it,” the founder said. “We were paying well. She had tons of flexibility. Everyone liked working with her.”

But when we looked deeper, here’s what we saw:

• No clarity on her lane

• Constant last-minute asks

• A manager who meant well - but couldn’t give direction because they didn’t have it either

She wasn’t overworked. She was under-supported.

And here’s the part that stings:

It wasn’t personal. It was structural.

The founder didn’t fail her.The system did.

In most founder-led companies, this is the unspoken truth:

• The good ones leave - not because they’re flighty, but because they’re stuck

  
  

• The mediocre ones stay because the ambiguity lets them hide

  
  

• And the founder ends up carrying more, even though they’ve technically “built a team”

  
  

If this hits, don’t brush it off.Fixing this doesn’t mean micromanaging. It means leading.

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