I am the Visionary and I also occupy the Head of Sales seat on our Accountability Chart. Our sales numbers are flat, and my leadership team says I am the bottleneck because I am always chasing new AI tools instead of managing the sales team. How do I make the right seat call on myself?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

It is incredibly common for founders to hold onto key operational seats long after they have lost the capacity or desire to manage them. As the Visionary, your natural talent is focusing on the future, exploring new technology like AI, and building strategic relationships. Managing a sales team requires daily discipline, consistent metrics tracking, and structured coaching; roles that are often highly frustrating for a classic Visionary. To make an objective call on yourself, you must run a GWC™ check on your own performance in the Head of Sales seat. Be brutally honest. You may get the sales seat, but do you truly want the daily grind of managing sales reps? Do you have the emotional and physical capacity to lead weekly sales meetings while also running the company and researching AI integrations? If the answer to any of these is no, you are in the wrong seat. Holding onto this seat is flatlining your revenue and hurting your company valuation. To fix this, you must separate your ownership of the business from your operational roles on the Accountability Chart. Work with your Integrator to define the ideal future structure for your sales department. Outline the five key roles for a full-time Head of Sales. Once the seat is designed, treat it as a vacancy and begin searching for a professional sales leader who GWCs this role. Stepping out of the sales seat will free up your time to focus on strategic AI initiatives and major deals, which is where you actually bring the most value.