My wife and I were watching an episode of Fire Country one evening, and it didn’t stay simple entertainment for long. It rarely does in our house. She works in HR, I work in marketing and business, and between the two of us almost anything on screen turns into a conversation about how people work together, or don’t.
In this episode, a wildfire broke out near a protest site. Firefighters moved fast to keep a vehicle fire from spreading into the brush. Eve Edwards, the firefighter overseeing the response, watched the situation intensify and did what her training told her to do: she headed straight for the hose.
Her superior officer, Sharon Leone, stopped her and told her to hand the task to her team.
Eve could have handled the hose herself. Nobody doubted that. The problem was that she wasn’t there to run the hose. She was there to run the response. She stepped back, assigned the task, the team executed, and the fire got contained.
That thirty-second moment is one I’ve thought about since, because I’ve lived a version of it myself.
From Technician to Leader
RCC Graphic Designs started in 2002 on the strength of one skill: graphic design. I was the person doing the work, because at that stage, doing the work was the entire business. Every client project ran through my hands directly.
That’s how most businesses start. A designer starts a design business. A developer builds software. A tradesperson opens a shop. The founder’s ability to execute is the product.
The instinct that builds a business in year one is the same instinct that can stall it by year five, if it never gets updated.
1. Technician
At this stage, the owner is the one solving problems, delivering the work, and fixing what breaks. Every client interaction runs through them because there isn’t anyone else yet, or because handing it off still feels riskier than doing it themselves.
I ran RCCGD this way for years. It’s not a mistake to run a business this way early on. It’s the only way most businesses can run early on.
2. Manager
The next stage is coordination. The owner starts assigning pieces of the work, tracking what’s moving, and making sure deadlines hold. This is where I brought people onto the RCCGD team and started handing off design and development tasks I used to do myself.
The harder part of this stage isn’t the handoff. It’s resisting the urge to take the task back the moment something looks slower or different than how I would have done it.
3. Leader
The third stage is where the owner steps back from individual tasks and focuses on direction instead: who’s on the team, what the priorities are, where the business is headed. The value shifts from what the owner produces to what the owner enables others to produce.
I’m still working through this transition at RCCGD. Some weeks I do it well. Other weeks I catch myself back at the technician stage, reviewing details that someone on my team is already handling competently.
Why the Handoff Is Harder Than It Looks
The instinct Eve had toward the hose is the same instinct I’ve had toward a client file. It comes from competence, not weakness. I built RCCGD on the ability to solve problems directly, and that ability doesn’t turn off just because the business grows.
The cost shows up quietly. When I hold onto tasks that belong to someone else on the team, I’m not available for the parts of the business that only I can do: setting direction, building the client relationships that need me specifically, deciding what RCCGD takes on next.
A business that depends on one person for execution has a ceiling. That ceiling is whatever that one person can personally get done in a week.
What Delegation Actually Builds
Handing off the hose isn’t just about freeing up my own time. It’s what lets the people on my team get better at their jobs.
When I give someone ownership of a task instead of just a to-do list, a few things happen:
- They make decisions I would have made for them, and most of the time those decisions turn out fine.
- They build the judgement that only comes from actually carrying a task through, not from being told each step.
- I get a clearer read on where the team is strong and where it still needs support.
None of that happens if I keep the hose in my own hands.
Applying This to Your Business
If you’re the owner, this is worth checking against your own week:
- Look at what you personally handled last week. How much of it could someone else on your team have done, if you’d handed it to them earlier?
- Notice where you step in reflexively when something feels slow or slightly off. That reflex is worth naming, because it’s usually the technician habit resurfacing.
- Ask whether your time is going toward direction and relationships, or toward tasks that used to justify your role but no longer need to.
Strategic Takeaway
Eve Edwards didn’t fail by wanting to grab the hose. She corrected by handing it off and staying in the role she was actually there to do.
I’ve made the same correction more than once at RCCGD, moving from technician to manager to leader, and I expect I’ll keep making it as the business keeps changing.
If you’re working through that same shift in your own business, I’d welcome a conversation about where you’re at. Reach out to me at RCCGD.
