Why Leading by Example Doesn’t Scale

“The goal isn’t to create more Randys.
It’s to build organizations where success doesn’t require one.”

The Randy Problem.

Early in my career, I worked with one of the best installation specialists in the company, Randy.

Randy was a master of his craft. He could look at a system from a few feet away and tell you exactly how many turns to make on each leveling screw to get it perfectly aligned. The systems were the size of a refrigerator and weighed over 900 pounds. Randy would square up and move them into place with precision, speed, and strength.

He was exceptional.

And I couldn’t be Randy.

No one else could, either.

Randy’s approach worked because of who he was—not because it could be replicated. Over time, I saw the cost of that model. It wasn’t scalable, and it wasn’t sustainable.

Performance doesn’t scale through effort; it scales through design.

When Effort Isn’t the Problem

When I stepped into my first leadership role, I leaned heavily into leading by example.

What I lacked in leadership experience, I made up for in technical expertise. I took calls myself, stayed close to the work, and assumed that showing the team how to perform would earn credibility and improve results.

That mindset was reinforced by my time in the military, where leadership by example and shared sacrifice are deeply ingrained.

But despite the effort, nothing really changed.

We were working hard, but we were always behind. Our on-time PM performance lagged, and the team—despite being fully staffed—struggled to keep up.

The Shift

The shift came when I stopped looking at the problem as an individual performance issue and started looking at it as a system problem.

Drawing on Lean and Six Sigma principles, we brought the team together and rebuilt the process from the ground up. We identified inefficiencies, removed unnecessary steps, and designed a workflow that reflected how the work actually happened—not how we assumed it should happen.

Within 90 days, we reached 98% on-time performance and had the capacity to absorb more customers. Shortly after, that approach became the standard across North America.

The difference wasn’t effort.

It was design.

The Lesson

That experience fundamentally changed how I think about leadership.

Leading by example has value—it builds credibility and connection. But when it becomes the primary leadership model, it creates organizations that depend on individual effort and “heroic” performance to succeed.

Over time, that leads to burnout, inconsistency, and ultimately, failure at scale.

Leadership, in my experience, is not about being the example others follow.

It’s about building the systems, environment, and conditions that allow teams to perform consistently—without depending on any one individual.

It’s about removing obstacles, aligning expectations, and creating a culture where people are trusted, supported, and able to succeed.

The goal isn’t to create more Randys.

It’s to build organizations where success doesn’t require one.