For a long time, I thought being involved in everything meant I cared.
In reality, it meant I was absorbing friction I didn’t need to.
Answering the same questions.
Re-deciding the same things.
Fixing problems that shouldn’t exist twice.
That’s when I realized something uncomfortable:
Being “hands-on” is often just unstructured responsibility.
A Chief Executive Human doesn’t detach from the business —they detach from repeatable problems.
Once I started designing around that:
- fewer things broke
- fewer decisions piled up
- progress felt calmer
The work didn’t disappear.
But the noise did.
CEH isn’t about stepping away.
It’s about making sure your presence is actually valuable when it is required.
That’s the difference between running a businessand being the business.