THE SECOND NAME ON THE DOOR

You advertised for a manager. What you were actually looking for was a replacement for yourself. That gap is why the last one did not work. There is one hire an owner-operator makes that matters more than all the others: the person who can run the business when you are not there. Most owners get it wrong, and they get it wrong in a consistent, predictable pattern. This book is about that one hire. Not team building. Not general recruitment. One person, one decision, ten chapters. WHAT IT COVERS - The job you cannot describe - writing the real specification, including the unattractive parts, before you go anywhere near an advertisement - Promote or hire - why the loyal long-serving person is so often wrong for this, and the specific conditions under which they are right. How to tell which you are looking at, before you decide - What you are actually testing for - tolerance for ambiguity, willingness to be unpopular, closing loops, asking before it gets expensive. And why industry experience ranks lower than you think - Where these people are - realistic sourcing when you cannot outbid anyone. Your suppliers, and other people's second-in-commands, are the real market - The interview that finds out - questions written out verbatim, with what a good and a bad answer sound like - References that tell you something - whom to ask, and how, so people say what they think - Paying for this - base against variable, what to tie variable pay to and what never to, why profit share often fails at this size, and how to talk about equity honestly when you have no intention of giving any - The first ninety days - onboarding someone whose job is to remove you, and the mistake owners make in week two - Handing over authority in public - how your team decides whether this person is real, what you must be seen to do, and what you must stop doing in front of everyone - When it does not work - recognising it early, the cost of waiting, and ending it without damaging the team WHO IT IS FOR Owners of profitable businesses with roughly eight to fifty people who cannot step away. You have very likely promoted someone internally already and watched it not take. WHAT YOU WILL NOT FIND No statistics, no cited studies, no client success stories, no promises about hours saved. Every example is generic and illustrative. Employment law varies everywhere, so the chapter on ending a hire deals with judgement, not procedure - take proper advice before you act.