I believe a business is meant to provide the owner with the work/lifestyle that best fulfills their purpose for it. For my own understanding and simplicity's sake, years ago, I broke down ownership style into three categories: visionary, manager, and technician.
Visionary owners think about growing all the time, but often need support.
Manager owners fit well in franchise organizations and like to manage systems and grow, but they often need good sales support.
Technician owners like to get their hands dirty and are more of a hands-on person, say like plumber owners, but yet they can't think of not also doing the work themselves.
Because I believe in my first sentence, I do not believe one style is better than the next if an owner fits the description, and I'm happy for them if this is what makes them happy.
However, one style over the next does make a difference in the success of growth, as you mention in your article. What I see in the problem, for example, is when the technician-style owner is attempting to be a visionary owner but cannot understand why he is so unhappy and starts to sabotage the company back down to a five or six-employee company after achieving 20 plus employees. Just my simple observations over the last several years working with business owners.
Daniel, great question, hadn't really thought about it. But my observation, thinking now, would be the blue collar trades seem to contain a number of technician style owners. Accountants, financial advisors, lawyers, or similar on the white collar side. I would say Visionary and Manager style in almost every industry but harder to identify without a conversation with the owner to determine. Seems Visionaries are identified more easier in the startup, new idea, concepts. But I don't have experience over thousands of owners; just my observations. Would be an interesting study to do. I will say there definitely appears a difference in the business salability of each type of ownership style.
The recognition that your identity has outpaced your role is probably the hardest shift any founder makes, and the interviews you've done seem to surface that same pattern repeatedly: the business evolves, but the habits calcify. McKinsey research found that 78% of companies with proven products fail to scale successfully, with founder role ossification identified as the primary culprit. As I see it, the real sticking point isn't the systems or the team quality: it's that stepping back feels like losing something you built yourself, which is an emotional problem masquerading as an operational one. What's been the most surprising moment founders describe as the one that actually shifted things for them?
I believe a business is meant to provide the owner with the work/lifestyle that best fulfills their purpose for it. For my own understanding and simplicity's sake, years ago, I broke down ownership style into three categories: visionary, manager, and technician.
Visionary owners think about growing all the time, but often need support.
Manager owners fit well in franchise organizations and like to manage systems and grow, but they often need good sales support.
Technician owners like to get their hands dirty and are more of a hands-on person, say like plumber owners, but yet they can't think of not also doing the work themselves.
Because I believe in my first sentence, I do not believe one style is better than the next if an owner fits the description, and I'm happy for them if this is what makes them happy.
However, one style over the next does make a difference in the success of growth, as you mention in your article. What I see in the problem, for example, is when the technician-style owner is attempting to be a visionary owner but cannot understand why he is so unhappy and starts to sabotage the company back down to a five or six-employee company after achieving 20 plus employees. Just my simple observations over the last several years working with business owners.
Thanks for the post, I enjoyed the read!
That’s a useful breakdown of the founder types. Did you find that one category prevails in a particular industry?
Daniel, great question, hadn't really thought about it. But my observation, thinking now, would be the blue collar trades seem to contain a number of technician style owners. Accountants, financial advisors, lawyers, or similar on the white collar side. I would say Visionary and Manager style in almost every industry but harder to identify without a conversation with the owner to determine. Seems Visionaries are identified more easier in the startup, new idea, concepts. But I don't have experience over thousands of owners; just my observations. Would be an interesting study to do. I will say there definitely appears a difference in the business salability of each type of ownership style.
Hmmm, I can see score card / quiz type of assessment shaping up there. 🤔
The business only grows as far as the founder is willing to change.
The Operating Bible of Brewton returns 🔥
Agreed, and the tricky part is knowing when to adapt to the new reality.
The recognition that your identity has outpaced your role is probably the hardest shift any founder makes, and the interviews you've done seem to surface that same pattern repeatedly: the business evolves, but the habits calcify. McKinsey research found that 78% of companies with proven products fail to scale successfully, with founder role ossification identified as the primary culprit. As I see it, the real sticking point isn't the systems or the team quality: it's that stepping back feels like losing something you built yourself, which is an emotional problem masquerading as an operational one. What's been the most surprising moment founders describe as the one that actually shifted things for them?
It was this example that stood out for me, actually:
“Emma Mills was told more directly that she was stuck in her ways. She runs a personal assistants business, but didn’t have a PA of her own.
“Her mastermind facilitator pointed out she was coaching other owners on leverage while still being the bottleneck in her own business.”
You can usually see the pattern in other people long before you see it in yourself.