Jonathan Herps:
What if one simple rule could transform your business entirely? Here it is: solve one big issue every week — not ten, not five. Just one.
Steve Jobs swore by this at Apple. Rather than spreading focus across dozens of problems simultaneously, he had his team solve one major bottleneck at a time — completely. I've seen this approach work time and again across the businesses I mentor and the leaders I coach.
One client — Dan, a business owner I work with — went from feeling completely stuck to solving more than 50 major roadblocks in the course of a single year.
The Problem Most Leadership Teams Face
When clients come to me, they're typically stuck — and the reason is almost always the same. Leadership teams are drowning in problems and trying to fix everything at once, which means they end up fixing nothing. Does this resonate?
They jump from issue to issue but nothing ever gets fully resolved. The same problems come up week after week. They spend more time in meetings talking about problems than actually solving them.
That was exactly where Dan was when we started working together. His leadership team had endless meetings, growth felt slow and frustrating, and no matter how hard everyone worked, meaningful progress wasn't happening. Then we made one simple change.
The Method: One Issue. One Week. Every Week.
Dan's team stopped trying to fix everything at once and committed to solving one major business issue every single week, following three steps:
Step 1 — Identify the number one roadblock. From their issues list, the team asked: What is the one problem that, if solved, will make everything else easier?
Step 2 — Address the root cause, not just the symptom. Half-measures were off the table. The goal was to solve the issue completely.
Step 3 — Assign ownership with a deadline. One issue. One owner. One week. No half-baked solutions — just execution.
Three Real Examples of This in Practice
Example 1 — Operations: Eliminating Bottlenecks
One client had no standardized systems, leading to persistent errors and inefficiencies. By focusing on one broken process per week, the results compounded quickly. Week one: mapped the customer onboarding process to remove friction. Week two: documented a repeatable sales process to improve conversion. Week three: built an automated invoicing and collection system to accelerate cash flow. The result — the business became scalable and predictable, and the CEO was able to step back from daily operations.
Example 2 — Leadership and Accountability: Building an A-Player Team
This is, in my experience, the single lever that moves the needle most in any business. Another client had a leadership team full of B-players — people who are high on values but low on productivity. Let me be clear on the definition: an A-player is someone who is both high on living the company's values and high on productivity in their role. A-players attract other A-players, and your job as a leader gets progressively easier. In my view, the percentage of A-players on your leadership team is your most important KPI as a CEO.
This client's team was full of B-players. By tackling one leadership issue per week, we built a high-performance team over time. Week one: introduced quarterly OKRs and KPIs for every role, aligned around a clear mission. Week two: implemented fortnightly one-on-ones between the CEO and each leadership team member, and between leaders and their teams. Week three: ran a structured talent assessment to identify weak links, then built learning and development plans to lift capability across every function. The result — within six months there were no B or C players left; most had self-selected out once accountability was real. Within two years, 85% of the leadership team were A-players. The business boomed.
Example 3 — Removing the Founder from Daily Operations
Many entrepreneurs are simply not suited to the day-to-day grind of running a business — and that's not a criticism, it's a reality. When a General Manager or leadership team takes over the daily operation, the business becomes dramatically more effective. It also frees the owner to focus on their unique abilities — the things they're genuinely great at and passionate about.
We build businesses not to work 100-hour weeks inside them, but to have them work for us — returning time for family, friends, hobbies, and experiences. With one client, we tackled this by delegating and systemizing one function per week. Week one: transferred client management to a leadership team member far better suited to it. Week two: built a scorecard-driven accountability system so the owner no longer needed to micromanage. Week three: created a 12-quarter planning framework to align the leadership team on long-term strategy. The result — within 12 months the CEO had fully stepped out of daily operations. The business ran profitably without them, and they had a better life.
The Tool That Makes It Work
The key is establishing a consistent weekly rhythm. The framework I use with clients is a Weekly Leadership Sync Meeting — a structured session that tracks KPIs, OKRs, the priority issues list, and the action items that flow from it. No more wasted meetings. Just weekly wins, one issue at a time.
If you'd like my Weekly Leadership Meeting tool, drop the word framework in the comments or email me at jonathan@scaleupos.com — I'll send it to you directly.
That's a wrap for today. I hope you found these insights not just valuable but genuinely actionable. Hit like, subscribe, and turn on notifications so you don't miss future episodes. Until next time — keep growing, keep leading.
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