Are You Building a Successful Company — or a Company That Can Only Succeed With You?

Under Kevin Lobo, Stryker's annual sales grew from $8.7 billion to more than $26 billion. On October 6, the company announced that he will hand over the CEO role on January 1, 2027, to a leader who has spent nearly three decades building his career inside the company.

It raises a question every founder should sit with: what does it take to build a company that can thrive beyond you?

Are you building a successful company, or a company that can only succeed with you? What Stryker's CEO succession teaches us about the next level of leadership.

What does it take to build a company that can thrive beyond you? Under Kevin Lobo, Stryker's annual sales grew from $8.7B to over $26B.

The way you built your business may not be the way you scale it.

Here's a distinction many founders overlook: delegating tasks isn't the same as developing leaders.

Where is your business still dependent on you? Look at your last five significant decisions.

Try this in your next leadership meeting: what would you need to make this decision confidently without me?

Your next level of growth may require a different kind of leadership. The goal isn't to make yourself unnecessary. It's to make your leadership scalable.

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The way you built your business may not be the way you scale it. In the beginning, your judgment, speed, and ability to solve problems created results. And those results reinforced your leadership habits. But as the company grows, the challenge changes. It needs more decision-makers, not just more decisions from you.

Here's a distinction many founders overlook. Delegating tasks isn't the same as developing leaders. Your team can execute everything you ask and still wait for you on every important decision. The real shift is from having the answers to building people who decide well. When that work is done, a change at the top stops being a crisis.

Where is your business still dependent on you? Look at your last five significant decisions. Which ones truly required you? Which could someone else have made with clearer expectations or more authority? And how much execution time could you recover if those decisions no longer waited for you? If you're not sure of the answer, start with the 30-day test.

Try this in your next leadership meeting. When someone brings you a decision, ask: "What would you need to make this decision confidently without me?" Then clarify the outcome, decision rights, and accountability. Don't just solve the immediate problem. Change what keeps bringing it back to you.

Your next level of growth may require a different kind of leadership. Not less involvement in what matters. More clarity about where your involvement creates the greatest value. The goal isn't to make yourself unnecessary. It's to make your leadership scalable.

If you want to build a company that doesn't depend on you, this is the work I do with founders and CEOs. Schedule a conversation.

Are You Building a Successful Company — or a Company That Can Only Succeed With You?

The next level of your company is waiting for the next level of you.