Scaling Starts with Leadership

As teams grow, things don’t just get bigger — they get more complex.
In Scaling Up, Verne Harnish says there are three barriers that can slow growth: Leadership, Infrastructure, and Marketing.
This week, I want to reflect on the first one — Leadership.

1. Prediction

Leaders don’t have to be years ahead — just minutes ahead of the market, the competition, and their people. That edge comes from staying close to reality — talking to customers, competitors, and team members regularly.

When you’re a small team, this happens naturally. You’re in every meeting, every sales call, every conversation. But as the team grows, that proximity fades — and leaders have to intentionally stay connected to the market.

💡 The best leaders spend 80% of their time facing the market — meeting customers, sensing change, and staying one step ahead.

2. Delegation

One of the hardest parts of leadership is letting go. 

To reach 10 people, you delegate what you’re weak at. 

To reach 50, you delegate what you’re strong at. Because sometimes, your greatest strength becomes the company’s limitation.

If the founder is the best salesperson, growth can stall unless others rise to lead. Scaling means building more leaders, not more followers.

Effective delegation isn’t just about assigning work — it’s about setting people up for success:

1. Define what success looks like.
   
2. Create a system to measure progress.
   
3. Offer feedback along the way.
   
4. Recognize and reward outcomes.
   

3. Repetition

The final job of a leader is to keep the main thing, the main thing.
At Klizer, we keep repeating our core values, goals, and vision — until they become second nature.

Every monthly meeting, I revisit what truly matters for the quarter or the year. Repetition builds clarity. And clarity builds alignment.

As we scale, our job as leaders is not to do more — but to make sure everyone knows what matters most and why.

In the coming week, I’ll continue with the next two barriers — Marketing and Scalable Infrastructure.