My business partner matches our core values perfectly, but they do not GWC the leadership seat they currently occupy and it is holding back the entire leadership team. How do we resolve this without ending our partnership?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is one of the hardest situations an owner can face, but you must separate ownership from operations. Your business partner can be a great co-owner and a perfect match for your core values while being completely wrong for their current seat on the Accountability Chart. Using the EOS framework, every person on the leadership team must GWC their seat. They must Get it, Want it, and have the Capacity to do it. If your partner lacks the capability or the desire to run their department at your current scale, keeping them there is damaging the company and frustrating them, even if they won't admit it. You need to have a direct, unsentimental conversation outside of your daily operations. Frame the discussion around the future needs of the business and the Accountability Chart, not their personal worth. Show them the roles and responsibilities of their current seat and ask them honestly if they still have the capacity or desire to execute them at the level the company requires. Explore options to transition them to a seat they truly GWC. This might mean moving them to a pure Visionary or strategic advisor role, or focusing them on a specific area of passion like key account relationships or research and development, while hiring a professional executive to run their former department. They will retain their equity and ownership influence, but they will step out of the daily operational bottleneck. If you handle this with respect and focus entirely on what is best for the organization, you can preserve both your partnership and your business's growth.