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Hey Unfiltered Folks,
"HIRED A COO AND NOW I HAVE TWO CEOS."
Answer: You hired a co-founder, not a COO. You didn't define roles clearly.
Now every decision is a negotiation. Nothing moves.
This is your fault for not setting clear boundaries. You hired someone strong, good. But you didn't tell them where their authority ends and yours begins.
Now you're fighting over everything. You both want final say. You both think you're in charge. The team watches you disagree and doesn't know who to follow.
So they wait. And nothing happens.
Question to Consider: Who's the one person who can fire everyone, including the COO?
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Why: Two people with final say means zero progress. Every decision becomes a negotiation.
Nothing moves because every move requires consensus.
You thought hiring a COO would free you up. It didn't. It created a second bottleneck. Now decisions sit in limbo while you two debate strategy, approach, priorities.
Meanwhile, the team is paralyzed. They don't know who to listen to. They play you against each other. They tell you one thing and the COO another. You get different versions of the truth. Trust dies. The company splits into factions. People align with you or them. Everyone's protecting their position instead of serving the customer. Revenue suffers. Culture dies. And you can't figure out why hiring help made everything worse.
Because you never actually defined what help meant.
You wanted a clone who'd execute your vision but you hired a leader who had their own vision. That's not a COO. That's a co-CEO.
Companies die with two heads.
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— Back —
Action: Sit down today. Define roles in writing.
Who owns what decisions?
Who leads which areas?
Be specific.
If you can't agree in one conversation, have another. If after multiple attempts you still can't agree, one of you leaves.
One leader.
One direction.
One voice.
Anything else is organizational suicide. Make the hard call now or watch the company die slowly.
Stay Unfiltered,
— Andy
P.S. One leader. One direction. One voice.
P.S.S. Buy my book to get 75 of the most painful problems and fixes.
