You’re growing.
Team’s growing.
Revenue’s growing.

But something feels off.

You’re in more meetings.
Making more decisions.
Trying to keep up with a pace you helped create.

And yet, progress feels slower.
That’s not friction from your team.
That’s personal lag—when your operating system gets outpaced by your company’s growth.

What Personal Lag Looks Like

You probably won’t see it in metrics.
You’ll feel it in behavior:

✅ You keep checking work you used to trust

✅ You’re stuck in decisions that used to be second nature or should be off your plate entirely

✅ You’re solving individual problems instead of redesigning systems

✅ You’re saying yes to things that no longer fit your role

✅ You do what’s familiar, not what’s most valuable

✅ You feel slower, foggier, reactive—like your bearings are off

It’s not about effort.

It’s about architecture—your source code hasn’t evolved for what the role now demands.

Why It Happens

You built the early company on your starting OS.

⚡ Speed 

🛠️ Scrappiness 

🔁 Context-switching 

🎯 Control.

It served you well. It got you here.

But the version that helped you ship v1 isn’t the version that can scale v5.

What worked then is now creating drag.

What your company needs now is different:

⬆️ Altitude, not just hustle

🧠 Decision delegation, not just task handoff

🧱 System design, not symptom solving or patch fixing

☀️ Clarity, not just context

Most founders don’t lag from lack of ability. They lag because they haven’t evolved their source code or updated their OS.

How to Spot It (Before It Derails You)

Start here:

1. Watch Where You’re Over-Involved
Ask yourself: “Where am I still operating like we’re a 10-person / 35-person / 80-person company and not where we are today?”

Or: “Is this my role—or my old one?”

2. Look at Decisions That Drain You

Is it because it is inherently complex or are you running an old mental model that no longer fits?

3. Audit Your Calendar

What still reflects your past role—not your current one? 

Are there things you need to let go of and hand off? 

What are you not doing that you should be doing?

4. Ask Your Team Where You Slow Things Down

They already know (and have likely complained about it to their partner, dog, plant... anything), trust me. It might not feel great, but you need to ask.

5. Shift From Fixing to Designing

Where are you fixing the same problem over and over again? Stop solving the thing. Start fixing the system behind it.

The Good News?

You’re not behind.

You’re not broken.

And you most definitely are not alone.

You’re just due for an OS upgrade.

The patterns that got you here weren’t wrong.

They just weren’t built for this chapter.

But they were never meant to be.

🕵️ Spot the lag.

🧬 Evolve your source code.

⚙️ Upgrade your OS.

📐 Redesign your role.

Lead at the level the company now demands AND make sure it's still in a way that feels like you. Because people like that person, they believe in that person. 

Feeling the lag?

Pick one question above. Ask it this week. Talk with others about it. 

Start making the changes so you can continue to be the leader your company needs.