When growth stalls, most founders look up at the strategy or down at the front line. The layer in between rarely gets examined, because it’s made up of the people they trust most.
In his latest Forbes Business Council article, Ken Paskins explains why the hidden drag on growth is often your best people, promoted into jobs nobody ever defined for them. Drawing on his time helping run a $25 million HVAC company, where promoting the top sales rep turned a 12-person team into one closer and 11 people waiting, Ken outlines the three things missing in most stalled middle layers: a definition of success at the new level, clear decision rights, and a scoreboard that measures the team. He also shares the one paragraph every founder should write before their next promotion.
