Our head of marketing is trying to scale his department by continuously hiring junior specialists and creating layers of management below him, but he still cannot deliver the high level strategic metrics we need. It feels like he is building an empire to mask his own inability to scale as a leader. How do we address this dynamic without destroying the marketing team?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a classic empire building trap. When a leader hits their personal ceiling, they often try to solve the problem with headcount rather than capability. They build a buffer of direct reports to handle the strategic work they cannot do themselves. This bloats your organizational structure, increases your overhead, and creates operational noise.

You must look at this through the lens of the Accountability Chart and the GWC™ concept. Does this person truly Get, Want, and have the Capacity to lead, manage, and hold people accountable for a larger, multi-layered department? Capacity is not about hours worked. It is about cognitive and emotional bandwidth. If they lack the strategic capacity, adding more people underneath them only amplifies their weakness.

First, strip away the headcount distraction. Look at the seat they occupy on the leadership team. Define the five major roles of that seat. If one of those roles is strategic growth and they are delegating that upward to you or downward to expensive hires, they do not GWC™ the seat.

Have a direct, loving, and honest conversation. Show them where they are falling short on their seat roles. Offer them a choice. They can step back into a specialized, individual contributor role where they excel, or they can transition out of the business. Continuing to let them build an empire to hide their limitations is a disservice to them and a massive risk to your business.