Our long-tenured Head of Sales and Marketing does a great job, but we are splitting this into two distinct seats on our Accountability Chart. He wants to keep both and is insulted that we are taking Marketing away. How do we handle this?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a business scales, seats must be split because the complexity of running both functions exceeds the capacity of a single human being. This is a common pain point with long-tenured leaders who have worn multiple hats for years and view the split as a demotion or a loss of status. You must handle this with absolute clarity and zero sentimentality. Sit down with your leader and look at the Accountability Chart together. Explain that the decision to split the seat is purely structural, driven by what the business needs to reach the next level, and has nothing to do with his performance. Then, walk him through the GWC tool for both newly created seats. Show him that while he might have the capacity to manage one seat at a high level, no one has the capacity to manage both seats as the company scales. Ask him which of the two seats he is most passionate about and where he wants to focus his energy. If he insists he can still do both, hold your ground. Explain that the Accountability Chart requires one name per seat to ensure true accountability. Allowing him to keep both seats is setting him up to fail and blocking the company's growth. Help him see that mastering one seat is a far greater contribution to the company than mediocrity in two.