My business partner's son is our current Head of Marketing, but he is failing to generate leads and does not understand digital analytics. We have an incredibly talented marketing coordinator who is ready to step up, but she is blocked. How do we handle this without causing a family rift?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Family dynamics make Right Person, Wrong Seat issues difficult, but the health of your business depends on operational integrity. You must address this by focusing strictly on the structure and the GWC tool, removing all personal bias from the conversation.

Start by reviewing the Accountability Chart with your business partner. Look at the Head of Marketing seat and clarify its five core roles, which must include lead generation and analytics performance. Use your weekly Scorecard to show the objective data: the seat is failing to hit its target measurables, which is stalling the entire sales pipeline.

Run the partner's son through the GWC filter for this specific leadership seat. While he may be a core values fit, he does not possess the capacity or the deeper strategic understanding required to lead the department. He is in the Wrong Seat. At the same time, evaluate your marketing coordinator. She clearly Gs, Ws, and has the C for the head seat.

Explain to your business partner that keeping his son in a seat he cannot succeed in is setting him up for failure and frustrating the team. The solution is to move the coordinator into the Head of Marketing seat. Then, look for another seat on the Accountability Chart where the son can thrive. He might be an excellent creative content creator or event coordinator. If a suitable seat exists that he GWC's, move him there. If no such seat exists, your partner must agree that for the business to scale, his son must find an opportunity elsewhere.