Designing for the NEXT Plateau

I remember talking to a man a few years back. He owned a wonderful and thriving business. By all accounts, he was tremendously blessed.  His team was doing well, his revenues were up, his customers were happy, and the waters seemed smooth for sailing.

But as I sat in his office, he leaned in and said, "We’re doing great, but I know in my heart we can go even higher. I just don't know who I can pass the torch to."

He thought his only challenge was finding a single successor—just picking a new leader. But as we talked, I realized something important: His challenge wasn't just who was going to lead, but what the whole organization needed to become.

And that is the slippery slope of a successful plateau.

Nothing looks broken.

Businesses rarely grow along a smooth curve. They move from plateau to plateau. Each plateau is supported by a combination of leadership, operating routines, decision-making mechanisms, and management talent.

That combination may work exceptionally well—until the business asks them to support greater scale, increased complexity, or changing ownership. Then the creaking starts.

Here’s what you look for at a growth plate:

• Executive bottlenecks: Important decisions repeatedly escalate to the owners.

• Siloed leadership: Strong department heads run their functions well but don’t gel as a collective executive team.

• Execution without judgment: Middle managers carry out instructions but lack the framework (or authority) to make sound decisions independently.

• One-way information flow: Directives travel downward easily, while customer and market information struggles to travel back up.

• Random tasks: Employees understand their responsibilities but not always how their work creates customer value or protects margin.

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These conditions probably won’t feel urgent on the current plateau. But they become boat anchors when the business attempts to reach the next one.

So instead of first asking “Who should lead us next?”, ask “What will the next stage of the business require us to become capable of doing?”

Will decisions need to move deeper into the organization? Will the executive team need to operate more collectively? Will middle managers need greater judgment and accountability?

One question fills an opening on the HR org chart.

The other one prepares the business for its future.

Because no leader can carry a company to its next plateau if the rest of the organization remains designed for the last one.