When Growth Stops Feeling Like Progress
The moment most business owners and executives don’t see coming
Early growth feels great.
Revenue is up.
The team is growing.
Customers are coming faster than before.
The same is true for senior executives stepping into larger roles—more scope, more responsibility, more visibility.
And then, quietly, something changes.
You’re working harder than ever—but the business doesn’t feel healthier. Decisions take longer. Problems repeat. Meetings multiply. And despite “success,” your calendar is full of work that shouldn’t require you anymore.
This is the moment most leaders misdiagnose.
They think the answer is:
Better people
Better tools
More hustle
It isn’t.
What’s missing isn’t effort.
It’s structure.
Why Step 4 exists
In the Five Steps to Freedom, Step 4 is where organizations either scale—or stall.
Up to this point, progress has often come from:
Personal drive
Experience
Being close to the work
That works… until it doesn’t.
Growth introduces complexity. Complexity punishes organizations that rely on memory, heroics, and informal communication. What used to feel “flexible” becomes fragile.
Step 4 exists to answer one core question:
How does the business operate when I’m not personally holding it together?
That question applies equally to:
Owners
Senior executives
Operating leaders in growing organizations
Not theoretically.
Operationally.
The invisible tax of growth
Here’s what I’ve seen repeatedly over 30 years:
Leaders become the default problem solver
Time is spent reacting instead of preventing
Teams wait for direction instead of acting
Improvement happens only when someone pushes it
When work depends on a few key people “knowing how things work,” the organization slows as it grows.
None of this shows up on a financial statement—until it does.
Margins erode.
Burnout creeps in.
Exit options—or strategic flexibility—shrink.
This is the hidden tax of growth without systems.
Step 4 is not bureaucracy
Let’s be clear about what Step 4 is not.
It is not:
Writing SOPs no one reads
Adding layers of management
Turning your company into a rulebook
Step 4 is about clarity:
Clear expectations
Clear rhythms
Clear ways of working
The goal is not control for control’s sake.
The goal is freedom through discipline.
The shift every leader must make
Step 4 requires a fundamental shift:
From:
“I make this work.”
To:
“I build the system that makes this work.”
Owners experience this shift as the business grows beyond them.
Executives experience it as scope expands and alignment becomes harder to maintain.
Different roles.
Same requirement.
That shift doesn’t happen overnight—but it can be learned.
And it starts by understanding what operational control actually looks like.
That’s where we’re headed next.
Don VanPool is a business operator, coach, and operating partner with over 30 years of experience helping owners and senior executives build system-driven organizations. His work focuses on operational discipline, leadership systems, and creating durable enterprise value.
