We have a highly talented developer who is threatening to leave unless we promote him to a newly created VP of Innovation seat. We do not actually need this seat on our Accountability Chart, but we cannot afford to lose his technical expertise. Should we create the seat to keep him?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

No. Creating a seat on your Accountability Chart just to accommodate or retain a specific person is a fundamental mistake. When you build your chart around people instead of the ideal structure needed to run the business, you create a fragile, bloated organization. The Accountability Chart must always be designed with the right seats first, and then you find the right people to fill them. If you create a custom seat for this developer, you will introduce confusion about who owns what, generate friction with your existing tech leadership, and set a dangerous precedent that anyone can demand a custom seat. Instead, look at your existing structure. If you need a high-level technical contributor, ensure you have a senior developer seat that offers career growth and compensation matching his value, without inventing a leadership seat. If he refuses to stay unless he gets a title and a seat that the business does not structurally require, then he is the Wrong Person for your future-state organization, and you must let him go.