Why Directors Can’t Rely on One Strength Anymore
Written with assistance from ChatGPT
What MMA fighters can teach business owners about leadership
In the early days of mixed martial arts, fighters could dominate with a single discipline.
A great wrestler could overwhelm strikers.
A jiu-jitsu specialist could submit almost anyone.
That era didn’t last.
As the sport matured, specialists were exposed.
The fighters who succeeded were the ones who became well-rounded — competent across striking, grappling, defence, and conditioning.
Business leadership has followed the same path.
Early Success Rewards Specialism
Most business owners start with a core strength:
A marketer who wins clients
A technician who delivers quality
A salesperson who builds relationships
Early on, that strength carries the business.
Decisions are simple.
The environment is forgiving.
But growth changes the rules.
Complexity Exposes Narrow Strengths
As businesses scale, success depends less on brilliance in one area and more on how the parts interact.
Directors are suddenly required to understand:
Marketing — where demand actually comes from
Finance — how decisions affect cash, margin, and risk
Operations — whether the business can deliver consistently
People — capability, incentives, and culture
Strategy — trade-offs, positioning, and focus
Innovation — adapting without destabilising the core
You don’t need to be elite in all of them.
But ignorance in anyone becomes costly.
The Trap: Confusing Delegation With Abdication
Many directors respond by delegating aggressively.
That’s necessary — but incomplete.
Delegation without understanding leads to:
Blind trust in numbers you can’t interrogate
Strategies you can’t pressure-test
Operational problems you only see when they become urgent
Strong directors delegate execution, not responsibility.
What “Well-Rounded” Really Means
Being well-rounded doesn’t mean doing everything yourself.
It means:
Asking intelligent questions
Spotting misalignment early
Understanding trade-offs across functions
Knowing when something “doesn’t feel right”
Just as MMA fighters don’t need to master every move, they need to avoid being exposed.
The Director’s Skill Set Is About Judgement, Not Mastery
Modern directors are not specialists.
They are integrators.
Their value lies in:
Balancing competing priorities
Seeing second-order effects
Deciding where to focus, not how to execute
This is why leadership becomes harder as the business improves — not easier.
A Simple Test for Directors
Ask yourself:
“If this area of the business failed quietly for six months, would I notice — and would I understand why?”
If the answer is no, that’s an exposure.
Closing
As businesses mature, leadership becomes less about expertise and more about range.
If your business has grown beyond your original skill set, the challenge isn’t learning everything — it’s developing enough understanding to make good decisions across the whole system.
That’s often easier to do with an external perspective.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do directors need to be experts in every business function?
No. Directors need enough understanding to ask good questions, spot misalignment, and make informed trade-offs.
Why does specialism become a problem as businesses grow?
Because decisions increasingly affect multiple parts of the business, and narrow expertise can miss second-order consequences.
How can directors become more well-rounded?
By building a broad commercial understanding, reviewing decisions across functions, and seeking challenges beyond their original skill set.