The short answer: You scale by building systems and people, not by doing more yourself. As a founder of a team or a new company you are person Zero. It can feel like a lonely place.
The hardest leap is from Zero to One where you have truly built something that works, that solves a problem, rights a wrong or makes people happy.
Scaling at this point is the next challenge, and you may have already started to do this a little bit reactively. You may be asking too much of yourself and as a rsult too much of your team.
Burnout often happens when founders try to grow the business and remain the core operator. Research shows that autonomy, clarity, and recovery are key to sustainable high performance (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; McKinsey, 2021).
Clarity and competence may already be suffering as new requirements emerge and people take on responsibilities they are not well prepared for.
One of the hardest things to do as the person Zero is "to let go so that you can let your people grow."
✅ Do this:
James’s insight: This is why I designed the EASE Framework™ to help founders of teams and businesses lead with less noise and more clarity.
Burnout is not a badge of honour, it is a signal your systems need to keep evolving to support your intent.
A practical leadership and management path to proactive, empowered, and psychologically safe teams
E.A.S.E. stands for:
🧭 Explore – Make the invisible visible: clarify purpose, pain points, and team dynamics
🔧 Align – Define shared goals, clear roles, and behavioural expectations
💬 Support – Build psychological safety through feedback, empathy, and enabling routines
🚀 Empower – Encourage agency, proactive problem-solving, and continuous learning