The Danger of Delegating to Avoid

If you know me, you know I belong out in the field.

Give me a dynamic outdoor training space, a team trying to solve a complex obstacle, or a lively group of leaders looking to build trust, and I am entirely in my element. Put me in a 'boredroom' staring at spreadsheets, line items, and tax structures, and my eyes glaze over within about thirty seconds.

So, early on in business, I did what every leadership book tells you to do:

I delegated it.

I found capable people to handle the finances so I could focus on my strengths out in the field. It felt like the ultimate smart business move. I checked it off my list and looked the other way.

But during our recent conversation on the UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders podcast with our guest Natalie Bouchard, I was hit with a brutal reality check about the psychological line between healthy delegation and delegation to avoid.

Natalie shared on our show story of a single year where her entire business and personal life collapsed. The catalyst was a massive financial scam within her business that wiped out hundreds of thousands of dollars, froze her accounts, and ultimately forced her to sell her home.

As Natalie broke down how it happened, she said something that made me sit up straight:

"I didn't want to take charge of my money and finances. I was delegating to avoid. And who is drawn to an individual who doesn't want to take charge of her own money? You're going to attract scammers."

Hearing her say that was a massive UH-OH moment for me, and I know it will resonate with a lot of you.

I had to learn this the hard way too. Just because I’m happier out in the field doesn’t mean the numbers stop being my responsibility to oversee, understand, and deeply participate in.

This isn't just an isolated issue, either. Look at the famous corporate horror story of Bob McNutt, the former CEO of Texas-based Collin Street Bakery, who learned this lesson the hard way.

Like many visionary leaders, the executive team at the bakery was completely focused on growth and operations. They handed the financial keys over to a highly trusted, long-term accountant named Sandy Jenkins. Because the business was thriving, they fell into the trap of blind trust. They didn't review bank statements or set up secondary oversight because they didn't want to be bogged down by the numbers.

That avoidance left the back door wide open. Over a nine-year period, that single accountant embezzled $16.6 million from the bakery to fund an incredibly lavish lifestyle before anyone finally noticed. When reflecting on how it could have happened under his watch, CEO Bob McNutt openly admitted that their fatal flaw was being a tad too trusting and abandoning the basic internal checks and balances because it was easier to look away.

If you are currently outsourcing a major pillar of your business or life purely because it bores you, frustrates you, or makes your nervous system uncomfortable, you might be setting yourself up for a painful lesson.

There is a massive difference between handing off a task because someone else can do it more efficiently, and handing off a task because you simply don't want to face the reality of it. When we delegate out of avoidance, we are abandoning our responsibility.

I had to learn this the hard way too. Just because I’m happier out in the field doesn’t mean the numbers stop being my responsibility to oversee, understand, and deeply participate in.

If you are currently outsourcing a major pillar of your business or life purely because it bores you, frustrates you, or makes your nervous system uncomfortable, you might be leaving your back door wide open.

3 Steps to Ensure You Aren't Delegating to Avoid

1. Audit Your Motives: Look at the major areas you’ve handed off (finances, HR, marketing, compliance). Ask yourself honestly: Am I giving this away to scale my time, or am I giving it away so I never have to think about it again? If it's the latter, it's time to step back in.
2. Build Reality Check Rituals: You don't need to do the daily data entry, but you absolutely must sit down with the reality of your numbers. Set an unmovable, recurring meeting to review the data. Face the uncomfortable metrics head-on before they turn into a crisis.
3. Keep Your Authorship: Cohesive leadership means all parts of your business are working together from the same center. You are the author of your business. You can hire executioners, but you can never outsource ultimate alignment and oversight.

What if our biggest professional disasters are actually breakthroughs in disguise? Natalie’s story illustrates how life uses chaotic disruptions as aggressive alignment checks to pull us back to who we are meant to be.

If you want to hear the full breakdown of Natalie lost everything, found her internal authority, and built herself back up to be truly rock solid, you need to hear this episode.

Listen to the full episode with Natalie Bouchard on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube

How do you balance staying in your zone of genius with keeping your eyes on the backend of your business? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

Until next time, lead on purpose.