When Dawn took a look at my activity list and saw what I tried to accomplish on any given day she said, “Karl, if you are doing something that someone else can do, you are not doing the things only you can do.” This statement struck me to the core and for a couple of days I started to examine the controlling nature that had my hands in the minutia of other people’s work.

One of the greatest mentors I will ever have was an executive coach named Dawn. She was the leadership coach for all of the general managers at Time Warner Cable, and thanks to the agreements we had with them, she worked with one of my startups. My boss, one of the founders, convinced the rest of the team that since I had 3 direct and 60 total reports (55 more than any other department), I probably would benefit from her advice.  He was oh so right!

Of all of the many things she had to teach there is one quote I share often and live by. When Dawn took a look at my activity list and saw what I tried to accomplish on any given day she said, “Karl, if you are doing something that someone else can do, you are not doing the things only you can do.”

This statement struck me to the core and for a couple of days I started to examine the controlling nature that had my hands in the minutia of other people’s work. I made a concerted effort to heed her advice and in weeks my managers and admin were doing most of the busy work I felt responsible for. My reps were in charge of their own pipelines and tracking of activity. My boss was in charge of his win agendas and expectations of me. I had to learn that there were things I could not afford to sweat if I was going to become more effective.

My team rebelled at first, and one of my managers really struggled, but in the end I learned a lot about myself and what it means to lead. I had to watch others slip and falter, and even fail at times, but finally exposing these weaknesses was better for my team and the company. My starts finally had a chance to shine and with the new room to spread their previously caged wings, they more than made up for the faltering of others.

Many of you, well those of you who are at startups know it is impossible to delegate most of what you do. There are no executive assistants, support staff, or any other employees; it is just you and a few others that are equally overburdened. My advice in these cases is to stick to your priorities and only do as many little things as are necessary to accomplish the major objectives. All those other things can wait, and if you avoid them, you will find the resources to have others eventually do them.

In the end I would also advise outsourcing as much as you can to virtual workers. This new crop of employee is less expensive and driven to succeed. We have new worlds burgeoning on the growth of working form remote locations. For every few dollars you place in someone else’s pocket, you get back an hour that could be worth thousands. I mean who else is going to come up with the plan that makes you win?