Our co-founder is our head of product but has completely checked out, doing the bare minimum while drawing a full executive salary, which is killing the motivation of the rest of the leadership team. How do we address this lack of contribution?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a co-founder checks out but continues to draw a full executive salary, it creates toxic resentment across your leadership team. Your other executives are working hard to hit their Rocks, while one seat on the Accountability Chart is functionally vacant.

You must separate ownership from operations. Being a shareholder does not give someone the right to hold an operational seat without delivering results. You must address this GWC issue directly.

As the Visionary or Integrator, you must have a private, honest conversation with your co-founder. Use the Accountability Chart as your guide. Walk through the five roles of their seat and ask them if they still want to do the work. Be prepared for them to admit they are burnt out or interested in other things.

If they do not want the seat or lack the capacity to run it, transition them out. They can remain an owner and draw distributions based on their equity, but they must vacate the operational seat and forfeit the associated salary. This frees up the budget to hire a high-capability executive who actually wants to do the work.

This transition is vital for team morale. Your leadership team must see that the rules of accountability apply to everyone, including founders. If you allow a double standard to persist, you will lose the trust of your entire executive team.