My co-founder and I built this business together and we both want to sit in the Visionary seat on our Accountability Chart. Our leadership team is getting conflicting strategic guidance because we both claim ownership of our future roadmap. How do we resolve this co-Visionary deadlock?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Having two people in the Visionary seat is a recipe for operational chaos. On an Accountability Chart, there can only be one name per seat. When you have two names in the Visionary seat, accountability is completely diluted. Your leadership team will hear conflicting priorities, play you against each other, and stall your execution.

You and your co-founder must accept that the Visionary is a single seat with specific roles: big ideas, key relationships, research and development, and maintaining your company culture. It is not a status symbol or a title of honor. It is a functional job.

To resolve this deadlock, you need to run a GWC™ check on both of you for the Visionary seat. It is highly likely that one of you is actually better suited for a different seat on the leadership team, such as the Integrator, the head of sales, or even a specialized strategic advisory role.

If both of you truly GWC™ the Visionary seat and refuse to back down, you must look at your unique abilities. One of you must step out of the day to day Visionary seat to protect the business. The co-founder who steps down can still maintain their ownership rights and board seat, but they must relinquish day to day operational direction of the vision.

My recommendation is to use your next same page meeting or pull in an outside facilitator to run a candid discussion. Decide who will hold the single Visionary seat on the Accountability Chart. The other partner must either take a different functional seat where they have a high unique ability, or step out of the daily operations entirely to let the business run cleanly.