Leading the executive team

Prepared by Venture Executive Network with editorial reading paths and planning prompts. Updated October 19, 2026.

Use this guide when the CEO still carries work a functional leader could own, when responsibilities overlap, or when you are deciding whether to hire or change a leadership role.

VEN selected the readings and wrote the prompts below. The executive-team session records one practitioner’s approach. Read its context before adopting a hiring, onboarding or performance practice.

Define the work before choosing the role

Start with Building your executive team. The opening discussion asks the CEO to examine the work they want to do, their strengths and the responsibilities someone must cover.

List the decisions and results the role would own. Identify work the CEO or another leader would hand over, the resources available and the decisions that still require agreement with colleagues. A title alone leaves those questions open.

Use Reinvestment and founder dependence when the hiring decision also needs a review of delivery workload, handoff costs and the evidence behind another spending commitment.

Check management capacity

Read Management capacity before sales headcount. This section draws on supplemental practitioner writing about a manager carrying more than one role.

Use its worksheet to examine the sales leader’s coaching, deal support, preparation, recruiting and selling commitments. For other functions, use the same editorial question: who has time to do the management work you expect? The reading does not establish a universal reporting ratio or hours-per-person rule.

Agree how the leader will take ownership

Return to Building your executive team: onboarding. The speaker describes his own contact schedule and onboarding plan. Discuss the support your hire needs, the first decisions they will own and the evidence you will review together.

Use Running against the plan when a role change affects other leaders’ commitments. Record disagreements about priorities or resources so the team can resolve them with the responsible decision-maker.

Check the company’s readiness as well as the candidate

In the executive-team session, the founder described a revenue leader whom he considered talented and committed. He said he had hired that person before the company was ready and had not assessed how to use their skills. He took responsibility for that mismatch. The account does not establish that another hire or a later start would have produced a different result.

Before assigning the role, name the work the leader will inherit, the evidence that the company can support it and the help other leaders must provide. Ask which customer, product or process questions remain unresolved. Use those answers to agree the first commitment and the support behind it.

Leadership responsibility worksheet

VEN editorial worksheet. These prompts help prepare a role or delegation discussion. They are not a quoted speaker framework.

LEADERSHIP RESPONSIBILITY

Company commitment this role supports:
Decisions and results the leader will own:
Work currently held by the CEO or another leader:
What transfers, to whom and when:
Decisions requiring another person's approval:
Dependencies on other teams:
People, budget and management time available:
Support or onboarding needed:
First commitment and evidence of progress:
Unresolved expectations and person who will resolve them:
Next review date:

For a performance concern, use the agreed responsibilities and evidence to prepare the conversation. The session accounts do not replace your company’s people process, employment obligations or individual assessment.

Related VEN sessions

Check each listing for the current date, status and access details.

• Board meetings and investor updates: Preparing board discussions and communicating missed targets.