You've decided it's time to hire a General Manager or COO to handle day-to-day operations and free yourself for the owner-level work that hasn't been getting enough attention. It's an exciting step—and a notoriously tricky hire to get right.

Five mistakes show up again and again: promoting someone from within who isn't ready, leaning too heavily on prior experience or advisor recommendations, hiring a strong leader but never letting them make real decisions, leaving communication expectations unclear, and failing to build genuine transparency in both directions.

The most important of these often isn't a candidate problem at all—it's an owner challenge. Done well, this hire can be transformational for both you and your company.

Read on for how to sidestep each of the five...

Your business is growing, and the symptom is familiar: there aren't enough hours in the day to focus on what you, as the owner, should really be working on. Instead, you spend much of your time helping others with responsibilities they already own. The question becomes—if not you, who will focus on everything else?

It may be time to hire your first COO. It's an exciting milestone, and like every growth step, it comes with new challenges: the cost feels significant, finding the right candidate is hard, sharing decisions is uncomfortable, staying informed takes intention, and the role requires deeper access than any other.

With the right person in this seat, you unlock your ability to take the next meaningful step in your company's growth.

Read on for how to navigate all five challenges...

Over 31 of the last 35 years, I've watched founders and families at three very different companies—850 people, 150, and 45—wrestle with the same challenge: developing senior leaders beyond themselves. Despite the size gaps, the fundamentals were identical.

The reasons vary—growth, a desire to step back, lifting the company's value beyond the owner, or preparing the next generation. But this hire is different from the dozens that came before. You're entrusting someone to make decisions you've always made yourself, and to know details only you have known.

Succession generally follows one of three models: a leadership team, a GM/COO/President, or a next-generation family member. Each has its own challenges, but all four requirements for success are shared.

Read on for a look at each model and what it takes to get it right...

Your company is growing and you're stretched thin—pulled in every direction, working long hours, while some of your team waits on you for direction. It's a sign you need more leadership capacity. One common path is promoting from within, and it's where many owners stumble.

The instinct is to reward your longest-tenured or most technically skilled people with the title. Understandable, but it comes with a high failure rate. Great leadership calls for a different set of skills than being an outstanding individual contributor: listening, communication, decision-making, a passion for teaching, and humility.

The biggest takeaway? No amount of urgency, or fear of hurting someone's feelings, should push you to promote someone who isn't ready. Few things disrupt a team more than a bad leadership hire.

Read on for how to evaluate readiness and set new leaders up to succeed...

If you're like most owners, it's easy to get comfortable with the things you do every day—even while you're quietly telling yourself you "need more time." Once you have additional leadership in place, that's the moment to rethink how you actually spend it.

Take an honest inventory. Approving invoices, sitting in update meetings, chasing shipments—how much of that still belongs on your plate? The goal is to free up your time for the work only you can own: purpose and values, strategy, finances for growth, and organizational alignment. If you don't do those, they don't get done.

Every time we choose to do one thing, we're choosing not to do another. The question is whether you're spending your time on the work that matters most for your company's future.

Read on for where owners should really be focusing...

How do you know when it’s time to add leadership responsibilities to existing team members, or change your organizational structure?