Michael had been working toward this for years. The promotion, the title, the office with the view. The day he walked in and closed that door for the first time, it felt like he had finally made it.

On paper, it was his dream.

In reality, his calendar blew up like a bad game of Tetris. Emails stacked up overnight, Slack pings started before sunrise, crises lined up like customers at a deli counter.

A client project tanking? Call Michael. A system meltdown? Michael would stay late. A cross-functional team at each other’s throats? Michael would parachute in, bang heads together, and crank out a solution.

That adrenaline rush had been his brand. He was the guy you called when the building was on fire. He would throw on the cape, pull off the rescue, and get the applause for saving the day.

The problem was he was no longer supposed to be the firefighter. He was supposed to be the fire marshal, the one building the systems so the fires never started in the first place.

Instead, he was running himself ragged. Twelve-hour days. Back-to-back crises. Quick wins that made him look like a hero in the moment but left his team even more dependent on him.

Michael thought he was proving his worth. What he was really proving was that he could not let go.

The Coaching Conversation

In our next session, I asked him, “So, how’s the new job going?”

He leaned back, exhaled hard. “Great, but exhausting. It is sucking up the little free time I had before. I thought it was going to be more strategic, but…it is just more of everything.”

I nodded. “Why do you think that is?”

“Because everything still comes to me. Every escalation, every budget tweak, every client issue. My team is smart, but they keep looping me in.”

“Why do you think they do that?”

“Because I have always been the one who fixes it.” He paused. “And I still am.”

“So what does that make your job now, leading or just fixing at a bigger scale?”

Silence. Then he laughed, but not the funny kind. “I guess I am still fixing. Which means I am not really leading.”

That was the moment it clicked. The job was not to carry more. It was to build the system so his team could carry without him.

Coach’s Commentary

If your first instinct is to dive back into the blaze, congratulations, you are both the arsonist and the firefighter. That is not leadership, it is muscle memory, and it is one of the hardest habits to break.

Why I Wrote This Book

I have coached hundreds of leaders. From COOs of billion-dollar organizations to directors juggling impossible calendars, the dysfunctions are the same:

• They mistake busyness for impact.

• They confuse fixing problems with leading people.

• They think “executive presence” is some mystical charisma they were not born with.
  

And the leadership books on their shelves? Most offer two decent ideas stretched across 200 pages of fluff.

That is not what leaders need. That is not what you need.

Lead Like a CEO is different.

What Makes It Different

This is not theory. It is a framework. A playbook.

• Mini challenges in every chapter. Because you do not need more concepts, you need moves you can test tomorrow.

• Coaching commentary. Real conversations with executives so you can hear the blunt questions, the sarcasm, the “oh, that is me” moments.

• A personal operating model. Not just mine, but yours. The book gives you a system to integrate everything you have already learned, and everything you will continue to learn on your way to the role you dream of.
  

This is not about chasing hacks. It is about building the backbone of your leadership — a framework that grows with you, so you can stop firefighting and start leading at the level you know you are ready for.

And if you want stories like Michael’s, the ones that make you wince because they are so damn familiar, you will find them throughout the book.

Three Moves This Week

1. Buy the book. Kindle is live today on Amazon. Paperback lands later this week.
   

2. Grab the Bonus Toolkit. The download link is inside the book, waiting for you.
   

3. Leave a review. Once we hit 50 reviews, I will release the Audible version so you can take me with you on your commute.
   
   

Stop Firefighting, Start Leading

Michael’s story is not unusual. It is the story of nearly every leader I coach: too much carrying, not enough owning. Too much fixing, not enough building. Too much firefighting, not enough leading.

That is why I wrote this book. To give leaders like you a way out of the chaos and into real authority.

Tomorrow, Lead Like a CEO is yours. No more hiding behind the cape. Time to hang up the hose and start leading like the job is already yours.