Bill Flynn: The Hero Trap
Bill is CEO of Catalyst Growth Advisors and a member of Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches Agency, a global community of the world’s top executive coaches. His writing appears in Harvard Business Review, Training Magazine, and ATD. He is the author of The Hero Trap: The Leader’s Shift from Doing to Designing (Amazon, Bookshop).
As their teams get larger and their titles get bigger, a lot of leaders work longer and harder. If you think about that for a moment, that’s obviously not sustainable. In this conversation, Bill and I explore how leaders recognize – and get out of – the hero trap.
Key Points
- If you keep working harder as your team grows, you may be a victim of the hero trap.
- Leaders fall into the hero trap because they care too much to let things break.
- A key inflection point every leader hits: scale yourself or scale your systems.
- Getting out of the hero trap is about shifting your identity.
- Controllers solve problems. Builders show others how to solve problems. Architects design systems that solve problems.
- Controllers thrive on recognition, urgency, and control. Builders find satisfaction in teaching. Architects find fulfillment in creating systems that outlast them.
Get out of the hero trap through:
- The 10-minute prevention reflex. For new issues, ask, “What’s your first step?” and explain as you solve. For recurring issues, ask, “What would prevent this from happening again?”
- The Netflix test. Test what happens when you take off an hour, a day, or an entire week. Notice what breaks and address the systems to prevent future problems.
- The thinking partnership. Instead of a command and control mindset, invite others to think through problems with you.
Resources Mentioned
- The Hero Trap: The Leader’s Shift from Doing to Designing by Bill Flynn (Amazon, Bookshop)*
Interview Notes
Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).
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