My co-founder holds a critical leadership seat on our Accountability Chart, but they consistently miss their quarterly Rocks and skip our Level 10 Meeting sessions, which is destroying accountability across the entire company. How do we handle an underperforming leader who is also an owner?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Having a co-founder who underperforms in a leadership seat is one of the most difficult challenges an owner can face. It destroys accountability because the rest of the team sees that ownership status shields a leader from performance standards. To resolve this, you must separate ownership from operations. Use your Accountability Chart to clarify this distinction. Being a shareholder is a passive investment role, whereas holding a seat on the Accountability Chart is an active employment role. Every person on the leadership team, regardless of their equity stake, must GWC their seat and consistently live the company's Core Values. Sit down with your co-founder outside of regular operational meetings and have a direct, reality-based conversation. Use the People Analyzer to evaluate their alignment with your Core Values and their performance on their quarterly Rocks. If they do not meet the standard, you must address it just as you would with any other employee. This may mean restructuring their role, transitioning them out of their leadership seat, or helping them move entirely into a passive owner role in the Owner's Box. Protecting an underperforming owner at the expense of your leadership culture will cap your company's growth and derail your exit strategy.