Case Study · Mark, Engineering Firm Founder
Found his blind spot. Landed the big one.
Client
Mark, founder-CEO of an engineering and inspection firm
Team
50+ people
The win
Led the bid and won a $20M+ contract
Approach
Focused 12-week sprints
01 · The bottleneck
Mark had just led the bid on a $20M+ contract and won it, the biggest his firm had ever touched. The largest project before that was about $5M.
He spotted the deals. He built the relationships. He connected the dots. That works at $5M. It breaks at $20M.
02 · The blind spot
The friction looked like a personality clash between a fast new leader and a careful engineering team. It wasn’t. It was a missing decision system, so every unclear call landed back on Mark.
03 · What changed
CEO decides
Mark decides alone. Example: brand and logo choices.
Leadership decides
Majority buy-in, one message. Example: a new marketing hire.
Everyone agrees
Full agreement required. Example: a new office.
We also gave the new Ops Manager a direct line to the CEO and a clear lane, and moved the leadership meeting from weekly status updates to biweekly strategy.
04 · The result
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Decisions waited for everyone, or for Mark | Written decision rights at three levels |
| New leader stuck in a gray zone | Clear lane and a path toward COO |
| Weekly meetings full of status updates | Biweekly strategy, agenda set in advance |
| Mark pulled into daily operations | Mark committed to leading strategy only |
“Lead only strategic meetings and remove myself fully from daily operations.”
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Client name changed and identifying details withheld.
