I spent over fifteen years as a CFO. I led accounting teams, sat in on hiring decisions, and watched businesses grow — and stumble — from the inside. And if there is one thing I saw play out more times than I care to admit, it is this: we failed our best people by leaving them alone.

Not out of malice. Not out of laziness. Out of assumption.

The New Hire Who Knocked It Out of the Park

We would bring someone on. They would hit the ground running. Projects that should have taken weeks were done in days. Everyone was impressed. We thought we had found exactly who we needed.

And then, almost without warning, they were gone.

It happened more than once. And every time, the post-mortem was the same: they were a strong performer who needed more from us than we gave them. More input. More direction. More feedback — both the positive kind and the constructive kind. More of a sense that we saw them, that we valued what they were bringing, and that we had thoughts about where they could go next.

We made the mistake that a lot of businesses make. We assumed that because they knew what they were doing — and were doing it well — we could leave them on their own island. We were all wearing many hats. There was always something else demanding our attention. And so we let our best new hires fend for themselves, told ourselves they were fine, and then watched them walk out the door.

They were not fine. They were waiting for leadership that never came.

The Long-Timer Who Slowly Stopped Showing Up

The other version of this story is quieter. Slower. And honestly, harder to catch.

You have an employee who has been with you for years. They know the business inside and out. They have been reliable, consistent, someone you count on without even thinking about it. And then, gradually, almost imperceptibly, their performance starts to dip. They are still there. Still doing the job. But not at the level you know they are capable of. Not the way they used to.

There is a term for this now — quietly quitting. And while it sounds like an employee problem, in my experience, it is almost always a leadership problem first.

The “atta boys” and “atta girls” matter — do not let anyone tell you they do not. But here is the part that surprises most business owners: your strongest performers do not just want praise. They feed off constructive feedback. They want to be challenged. They want to know you are paying attention — not just when something goes wrong, but all the time. They came to work with a team and perform at their best. When the feedback stops, in either direction, they start to stall. And eventually, they burn out quietly while still sitting at their desk.

Management Keeps Things Running. Leadership Keeps People Growing.

There is a real difference between the two, and most small business owners I have seen — myself included, during those CFO years — default to management because it is the more urgent of the two. Management is the day-to-day. The tasks, the deadlines, the deliverables. Leadership is slower. It requires you to stop and be intentional about the people doing the work, not just the work itself.

I know how it feels to look around at your team and think — I hired these people to help me. Why does it feel like I am babysitting? That frustration is real, and I am not here to dismiss it. But in my experience, that feeling is almost always a signal. Not that you hired the wrong people. That management is happening, but leadership is not.

Your strongest employees need leadership the most. Not because they cannot figure things out on their own — clearly they can. But because if they were going to do all of this without input, direction, and someone in their corner, they would just be running their own business.

Give them a reason to stay in yours.