Did you ever play tetherball as a child? I did. It illustrates a simple concept that is important in CEO and Right Hand Relationships: when things are tethered together, they can move fast without getting too far apart.
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Don’t miss this opportunity to gain insights on building stronger leadership and partnership within your organization. We hope to see you there!
Join Andrea Steinbrenner, CEO & Partner at Exit Consulting Group, and me for the pre-conference workshop Getting the Right Hand Right® at the Prairie Family Business Association Annual Conference on April 21st.
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The truth is, every CEO & Right Hand partnership will define these things a little differently. What matters most is that you share your own expectations and make an effort to honor the other person’s preferences too.
What are your Time & Place preferences?
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Stuff like this may sound basic, but it goes a long way in building trust and avoiding the quiet frustrations that come from mismatched expectations.
A Time & Place tether is an agreement about when/where a CEO and their Right Hand show up for each other. It’s the factual stuff, like when/where we meet. It’s the pet peeve stuff, like don’t text somebody when we talk. It’s the shared company ground rules, like turn on your camera for Zoom calls.
For the CEO, realize that managing risk does in fact hinder efficiency, so once you’ve helped your Right Hand understand the risk, get out of the way so they can get the work done.
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Here’s what you do:
For the RH, every time you make an efficiency argument ask yourself: What’s the risk of this? What’s the downside if I get it wrong? The worst-case scenario? Where could this expose the company? You forget to ask those questions when you’re focused on trying to be efficient.
The CEO/RH aren’t arguing about the same thing. They’re having 2 different conversations without realizing it. The RH is thinking, Why are you slowing it down? The CEO is thinking, If it goes wrong, it’d be bad. It’s my responsibility/loss. Most CEOs assume the risk is obvious to the RH. It isn’t.
When a CEO says no, it’s almost always about risk:
“If you sign the wrong contract, we’re stuck.”
“If you approve the wrong refund, we set a dangerous precedent.”
“If you change that policy, we’re too exposed.”
That’s a risk argument.
When a Right Hand asks for more authority, the request is almost always efficiency oriented:
“It’d be faster if I could just sign the contracts.”
“It’d streamline things if I could approve the refunds.”
“It’d remove a bottleneck if I didn’t have to check with you.”
That’s an efficiency argument.
Micromanagement is the accusation people make when they are trying to be efficient, and they feel like your unwillingness to just let them run is slowing things down. Risk management is the legitimate and useful thing you’re doing when you slow things down.
Micromanagement is the word used by people who want more authority.
Risk management is the word used by people who already have authority.
Here’s the bottom line: if you want them to do it right, they need to understand what you know about risk. That’s because micromanagement and risk management are really the same thing from two different POVs.
So the pendulum swings. One week we’re giving detailed instructions, reviewing every draft, double-checking every move. The next week we’re telling ourselves, I need to stop hovering, and we go completely hands off.
“I don’t want to micromanage… but also, I really need you to get it right!” That’s the tension in every Right Hand relationship. We want to empower them. We want to step back. We want them to just run with it. But we also need results.
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We’re excited for all the great ways we’re going to help executives win at Right Hand relationships in 2026. #RightHand
The Practical PhD team plus Heather's spouse and child in front of the Cirque du Soleil giant inflatable snail
Group photo of the practical phd team in their hotel room. Minimal background showing, just a wall with abstract art. Left to right: August Stone, Johnny Miller, Heather Stone, Katey Miles, and Kenzie Powelson.
So grateful for my team that works hard, thinks big, and makes space for collaboration.
Here’s some pics from our company retreat where we talked strategy and saw an amazing Cirque du Soleil show.
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Have you ever had a trusted Right Hand not do the right thing? Trusting someone’s integrity is not the same thing as trusting they have enough information to make a decision. Sometimes what we call a trust gap is really just a knowledge gap. If they knew what you did, would they have done it better?
I’m turning my Getting the Right Hand Right workshop into a book and trying to hear from as many other leaders as possible to make sure it’s grounded in reality. I’m collecting success stories too, of course. Because when it comes to Right Hand hiring, it either really works or completely fails.
CEOs–Has hiring a Right Hand ever backfired big time for you or the company?
Right Hands–Has a job or boss turned out way worse than you expected?
Please share below or send me a DM!
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