This story appears in the November 2025 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
Most leaders think about leadership backwards. They see a problem and think, How can I solve this? But the better question is: “Who can help us solve this, and do they have what they need?”
Your role as a leader isn’t to do more work. It’s to constantly optimize the match between work that needs doing and people available to do it.
Here’s how I know this: I spent nine years at Ray Dalio’s hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, where my job as co-head of our recruiting department was to identify and recruit the world’s best leaders. Today, I train corporate leaders with my own company, MGMT Accelerator.
Not delegating is the single most common problem I see. Leaders are stuck thinking of themselves as the star player on a team, when in fact, their role is much simpler: The best leaders are matchmakers.
Related: I’ve Managed 260 Employees — Here’s How to Tell If Your Leadership Style Is Actually Working
In other words, here’s the simplest way to think about leadership:
Your job = Work to do + People to do it
That’s it. Everything else is noise.
So how do you become a great matchmaker? Below, I lay out my playbook.
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