We are preparing our business for an exit and have a beloved, long-term manager who fits our core values perfectly but simply does not have the capacity to run our scaled-up operations seat. How do we make this Right Person, Wrong Seat call without ruining employee morale or looking heartless to a buyer?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Keeping a Right Person in the Wrong Seat is a massive drag on your company's valuation. Buyers look for a highly capable, independent leadership team that can execute the business plan without relying on legacy sentiments. To handle this cleanly, you must separate the person from the seat.

Start by using the Accountability Chart to show them what the scaled-up seat actually requires in terms of roles, metrics, and capacity. Walk through the GWC™ evaluation with them honestly. If they do not have the capacity to handle the modern seat, explain that keeping them there is setting them up to fail and hurting the business.

Your goal should be to find a Right Seat for this Right Person within the organization where they can truly shine and add value, such as a specialized individual contributor role or a smaller department seat. This preserves their institutional knowledge and maintains team morale while allowing you to recruit a high-performing leader for the key seat.

Handling this transition with transparency and respect shows your team and prospective buyers that you lead with both empathy and high professional standards. It proves to a buyer that you are capable of making tough leadership decisions to protect the business's future, which actually increases your company's value and readiness for a clean exit.