My business partner and I are both co-founders, and we both want the Integrator seat on our new Accountability Chart. We are at a complete standstill and it is starting to stall our EOS implementation. How do we resolve this objectively?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is one of the most common friction points in founder-led businesses. To resolve this standstill, you must take emotion, tenure, and ego out of the equation. Sit down with your V/TO® and look at the future of the company. Then, look at the Integrator seat on your Accountability Chart.

The Integrator is responsible for running the day-to-day business, harmonizing the leadership team, and executing the corporate vision. It is a highly demanding, operationally focused seat that requires a specific set of conative strengths. You must objectively assess both yourself and your partner against the GWC™ framework for this specific seat.

Ask yourselves three questions. Who truly gets the seat, meaning they intuitively understand the unique pressure and mechanics of the role? Who truly wants the seat, meaning they genuinely desire to do the daily, grind-it-out management work, rather than just wanting the title and authority? Who has the capacity, meaning they have the emotional, mental, and physical bandwidth to do it?

Be brutally honest. If you are still stuck, bring in your professional EOS® Implementer to facilitate an objective discussion or use behavioral assessments to highlight who is naturally wired for the role. One of you must step into a different seat, perhaps the Visionary seat, or you must hire an outside Integrator. Having two people fight over one seat will destroy your leadership team.