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I love the idea of obsoleting myself. In fact, the idea of obsoleting myself has been my goal ever since I started managing people years ago. Because only when you obsolete yourself can you effectively delegate.
Huh?
Now why would you want to make yourself not needed anymore? And what does this have to do with delegating to your team?
The concept of obsoleting yourself is somewhat of a leap of faith. You are betting that there will be higher-level work you can do by having your team be able to do the work. You’re also betting that you’ll gain significant leverage by effectively delegating.
And leverage is where it’s at as CEO.
As CEO, you have to be thinking about how you get your team to do as much as possible. In fact, your goal should be that the company runs perfectly if you are not involved.
There are two very practical reasons you want to work hard to delegate to your team:
A. You could leave the company.
The true sign of an effective manager is when you take yourself out of the picture. Does the company still run effectively without you? If does then you’re on the right track.
