We have a highly loyal leadership team that has been with us for a decade, and we are trying to design our Accountability Chart to fit their unique individual strengths rather than forcing them into rigid standard seats. Why is this a mistake if we are planning to exit in five years?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Designing your Accountability Chart around your existing people is the fastest way to build a fragile business that potential buyers will avoid. When you build the chart around individual strengths and quirks, you are creating a custom-built maze that only your current team can navigate. An acquirer does not want to buy a business that depends on the unique, unreplicable magic of a few loyal veterans. They want to buy a scalable, predictable machine. The EOS® way is to build the structure first. You must design the ideal future structure that the business needs to hit its goals over the next twelve to thirty-six months, completely ignoring the names of your current staff. Define the seats and the five key roles for each seat first. Only when the structure is completely finalized do you look at your people and determine if they are the Right People in the Right Seats. If a loyal veteran does not fit the newly defined, standardized seat, you must address that gap. Bending the structure to fit the person cements operational inefficiencies and key-person risk directly into your organization, which will ultimately tank your valuation when you attempt to exit. Build the structure for the business you want to become, not the museum of your past hires.