My son-in-law currently sits in our Business Development seat on our Accountability Chart, but he consistently fails to hit his target metrics and lacks the drive to hunt for new clients. I want to move him to a newly created Strategic Brand Ambassador seat to keep the peace in our family, but my leadership team says this is a bad idea. How should I handle this?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Your leadership team is entirely correct. Creating a vanity seat on your Accountability Chart to accommodate a family member who does not GWC their current role is a surefire way to destroy team morale and tank your company value.

An Accountability Chart must be designed for structural efficiency, not family harmony. Every single seat must have real, measurable roles that are essential to running the business and driving its value. If you create a brand ambassador seat that has no real metrics or clear accountability, your leadership team will immediately see through it. They will lose respect for your leadership, and accountability across the entire organization will erode.

You must apply the GWC check objectively. Your son-in-law either Gets it, Wants it, and has the Capacity to do his current seat, or he does not. Since he is consistently failing, he is in the wrong seat.

If you want to transition him out of business development, you can only move him to an existing, necessary seat on the chart that he fully GWCs. If no such seat exists, or if he lacks the capacity for any operational role, he must leave the company.

If you are preparing for an exit, buyers will scrutinize your payroll and organizational structure. A non-performing family member in a made-up seat is a massive red flag that suggests your business is run like a personal fiefdom rather than a professional, scalable enterprise. Protect your legacy by keeping family dynamics out of your structure.