A CEO once said to me, “I spend more time mediating between my executives than leading the business.”
On paper, the leadership team was strong. Each executive was highly capable. Each function was performing. But in the room, something was off. Discussions felt territorial. Priorities competed. Decisions took longer than they should have.
The board sensed it too. Results were acceptable, but momentum felt fragile.
This is what happens when a leadership team operates as a collection of functional leaders instead of a true First Team.
Most executives are trained to optimize their domains. Sales protects revenue. Operations protects efficiency. Technology protects stability. Finance protects control. All important. All necessary. But when those priorities are not aligned at the enterprise level, the CEO becomes a referee instead of an architect.
Enterprise value stalls when leaders win for their function and lose for the business.
I watched this shift in one organization when the CEO changed a single expectation. Success was no longer defined by functional KPIs alone. It was defined by enterprise outcomes. Leaders were asked to advocate first for the company, then for their department.
At first, it was uncomfortable.
Then it was transformative.
Decisions became cleaner. Tradeoffs became faster. Energy shifted from protection to progress. The CEO finally had a leadership team that multiplied capacity instead of consuming it.
This is what an Enterprise Value Architect builds.
Not a strong team of individuals.
A strong enterprise-minded First Team.
The First Team is the engine of enterprise value because:
- It sets the tone for how decisions are made
- It models enterprise-first thinking
- It determines whether strategy turns into execution or into friction
When the First Team is aligned:
- Complexity shrinks
- Decision velocity increases
- Leadership capacity expands
- Enterprise value compounds
When it is not:
- The CEO becomes the bottleneck
- Functional priorities dominate
- The organization slows without realizing why
The First Team is not a meeting structure.
It is a mindset.
And that mindset determines whether growth becomes strength or strain.
Key Takeaways for CEOs
- If you are constantly mediating, your First Team is not operating as an enterprise unit.
- Redefine success in enterprise terms, not just functional performance.
- Make it safe and expected for leaders to advocate for the whole before their silo.
- Your role is to build a leadership team that multiplies your capacity, not absorbs it.
- Enterprise value grows when your team thinks like owners of the business, not managers of departments.
Key Takeaways for Boards
- Observe how the leadership team behaves, not just what they deliver.
- Ask whether incentives and metrics reinforce enterprise thinking or silo protection.
- Support the CEO in shifting from functional optimization to enterprise optimization.
- Strong boards ensure the First Team is aligned before expecting flawless execution.
- Enterprise value is shaped as much by leadership dynamics as by strategy.
A business does not scale through functions.
It scales through a First Team that thinks, decides, and leads as one enterprise.