(Because if every decision still lands on your desk, something is seriously wrong.)

Last week, I was talking to a client—let’s call her April, a tech VP. She let out a deep sigh and said:

💬 “I have way too much work, and I can’t dig out or stop long enough to reorganize.”

I asked her a simple question:
👉 “What’s stopping your team from making decisions and moving forward without you?”

Her response? Another long sigh, followed by:

💬 “Jim, I don’t know. They just… wait for me. Even when I tell them to take accountability, everything somehow still ends up back on my desk. My next level down—my so-called ‘leaders’—seem to be more like order-takers than actual leaders, waiting to be told what to do.”

Sound familiar?

If you’re a senior leader or executive and every major decision still funnels through you, you don’t have a leadership team—you have a never-ending backlog.

And not just any backlog. One where every critical issue, every roadblock, and every “what should we do?” question funnels straight back to you.

And when your boss—or worse, the board—finally figures it out?

You’d better have a damn good answer, because when they realize your company’s “leadership pipeline” is really just YOU holding everything together, their next decision might be about replacing the bottleneck.

That’s not leadership. That’s a disaster waiting to happen.

❌ The Harsh Reality: How Leadership Bottlenecks Are Bleeding Billions

You’ve probably heard these before, but let’s put them in perspective:

Turnover & Talent Drain
💰 $1 TRILLION+ per year lost in turnover costs across U.S. businesses.
And the #1 reason people quit? Well... we will get to that.

Wasted Time & Decision Bottlenecks
Harvard Business Review reports that leaders waste 40% of their time on low-value tasks.
In a 1,000-person company, that’s 4,000+ hours per week wasted.
💰 That adds up to $10M–$20M per year in lost productivity.

Revenue at Risk
Slow decision-making costs companies 5-10% of annual revenue.
💰For a $50M business, that’s up to $5M a year—GONE.

And what’s the one common factor in all of this?

Bad leadership.

Every Company THINKS They Have a Leadership Pipeline—Until They Don’t.

I talk to at least a dozen leaders every week from organizations ranging from 100 employees to tens of thousands.

And every single one of them swears they have a strong leadership pipeline.

Until they don’t.

You might think you’re different. But if you’ve read this far, let me save you the suspense: YOU don’t have a leadership pipeline.

You have a leadership problem.

So… are you really as prepared as you think? Let’s test it:

🔥 Do You REALLY Have a Leadership Pipeline? Take This Quick Test.

✅ Can your next level of leaders make critical decisions without you?
✅ Do your mid-level managers have a clear leadership development plan?
✅ If your top leader left today, do you know exactly who would step up?
✅ Are you actively coaching and reinforcing leadership skills at every level?
✅ Do you have a structured decision-making framework for leaders?
✅ Are your high-performers engaged and seeing a clear career path?

If you hesitated on ANY of these, your leadership pipeline has a problem you are not fixing!

🔥 Why Your Leadership Pipeline is Failing (And How to Fix It)

🚧 Problem #1: You Promote High Performers, But Don’t Train Them to Lead

Your best “doer” becomes a manager, but they don’t know how to delegate or make tough calls—so they keep doing their old job on top of managing.

✅ The Fix: Stop assuming leadership is automatic. The moment someone is promoted, they need coaching, mentorship, and leadership training.

🚧 Problem #2: Your Mid-Level Managers Have No Decision-Making or Prioritization Framework

If your managers keep escalating every little thing, it’s because no one has taught them how to own decisions with confidence.

✅ The Fix: Start asking “What do YOU think?” instead of giving them the answer. Teach structured decision-making so they stop second-guessing everything.

🚧 Problem #3: You Train, But You Don’t Reinforce

A three-day workshop isn’t leadership development. It’s a feel-good event that’s forgotten in a month.

✅ The Fix: Follow training with ongoing coaching, peer accountability, and real-world application.

🚧 Problem #4: You’re Cutting Leadership Development to ‘Save Money’

You think you’re cutting costs, but in reality, you’re just delaying bigger (more expensive) problems.

✅ The Fix: Leadership development isn’t a luxury—it’s your insurance policy. The best companies aren’t cutting back; they’re investing in coaching, retreats, and hands-on training NOW.

🔥 The Leadership Pipeline Challenge: What’s Your Next Move?

It’s time to:
✔️ Develop leaders BEFORE they get promoted.
✔️ Teach decision-making, not just management.
✔️ Stop treating leadership training like a “nice-to-have.”

💬 Drop a comment or DM me—let’s talk about getting your leadership pipeline back on track.

And if you want the real playbook on how to break free from decision fatigue, join me LIVE this Thursday.

🔥 Let’s lead better, NOW. 🚀