You can’t be the star player, the head coach, and the referee — all at the same time.
Let’s get something straight:
In strategic leadership, if you’re a CEO, President, or senior leader running your own strategic meetings — and trying to actively participate as an equal member of the team — you’re setting yourself, your team, and your strategy up for failure.
Why?
Because you’re trying to do three incompatible jobs at once:
🏀 Be the star player (contributing your best insights)
🏈 Be the head coach (shaping the plays and adjusting dynamics)
⚖️ Be the referee (ensuring fair process and calling fouls when things go offside)
That’s not leadership. That’s chaos in a suit.
The Fatal Strategic Leadership Myth of “Leading from Within”
Too many CEOs fall into the trap of thinking, “I want to be collaborative. I want my people to feel empowered. I want to be part of the team.”
Beautiful intent. Terrible execution.
Here’s the reality:
When the person with the most authority in the room tries to be an equal and the facilitator, they distort the entire energy of the meeting. Participants second-guess themselves. Power dynamics get weird. Decisions slow down — or worse, go unchallenged.
People either shrink or defer.
Or they get passive-aggressive and disengage.
Neither leads to good strategy. Neither leads to alignment.
The Strategic Leadership Trilemma
1. As a participant, you should be free to challenge, brainstorm, and explore.
2. As a facilitator, you should be neutral, holding space and process for others.
3. As the leader, your presence carries weight — no matter how chill you think you are.
Trying to juggle all three at once? You sacrifice integrity in at least one.
You can’t listen deeply while planning your next slide.
You can’t create psychological safety while dominating airtime.
You can’t stay objective while subtly steering the group toward your preferred answer.
What Happens When CEOs Facilitate Their Own Strategy Meetings
Let’s pull back the curtain on what really happens in these rooms:
🔇 Participants stay silent longer.
No one wants to be the first to challenge the boss.
🔁 Discussions loop and stall.
You end up in analysis paralysis — or worse, agreement theater.
💤 The energy flattens.
People check out emotionally. The meeting becomes another exercise in compliance.
🧩 The outcomes lack teeth.
Vague goals. Weak buy-in. No one truly owns the next move — because they didn’t really shape it. This isn’t because your team lacks courage. It’s because the environment isn’t set up for it. You can’t simultaneously generate, referee, and evaluate ideas without warping the room.
The Fix: Get Out of the Facilitator Chair
High-performance teams need neutral facilitation so that everyone — including you — can show up fully, authentically, and courageously. This doesn’t mean you take a backseat. It means you choose your seat intentionally.
When you hand the reins of facilitation to someone else — ideally an experienced, trusted third party — you give yourself and your team a gift:
- You show up as a leader ready to think and contribute, not direct.
- Your team steps up — not in deference, but in ownership.
- The meeting becomes a crucible for insight, not a showcase for performance.
A Final Word About Strategic Leadership
You wouldn’t let your MVP run practice, call plays, referee the game, and run the post-game analysis. So why are you doing that in your company?
Lead with intention. Facilitate with professionals.
Be the CEO your strategy needs — not the bottleneck it can’t overcome.
Because when you step back, your team steps up.
And when your team steps up, your strategy has a shot at actually sticking.
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