247. Leading Beyond the Day-to-Day with Ben and Cody from 5 Star Interpreting

The CEO Help Desk from Run Like Clockwork

In this coaching episode, Adrienne Dorison and Emily Doyle sit down with Ben and Cody, co-founders of 5 Star Interpreting, to tackle a challenge many visionary founders face: What does your role become when the business runs without you?

If you’ve ever felt unsure of how to stay involved at a strategic level without slipping back into the day-to-day, this one’s for you.

Here’s what we cover: ✅ Why “letting go” doesn’t mean disappearing ✅ How to build metrics that matter (and get your team to own them) ✅ Navigating partnership dynamics when your working styles clash ✅ Identifying the high-leverage work only you can do ✅ What a fully developed right-hand leader can unlock

Ben and Cody share how their values-driven business model — serving the Deaf community across Utah, Illinois, and beyond — continues to thrive thanks to a strong team. But with growth comes a new challenge: redefining their leadership roles to focus on vision, alignment, and long-term impact.

Hit play for a powerful conversation on leadership evolution, co-founder communication, and building a business that runs without you — but still reflects you.

Top 5 Takeaways:

• Redefine Leadership – You don’t have to leave your business to scale. You just need to lead differently.

• Design Your Dashboard – Tracking what matters helps you manage without meddling.

• Strengthen the Middle – Develop your internal leaders so they’re solving problems before they reach you.

• Own Your Zone – Decide which high-value activities are truly yours — and delegate the rest.

• Stay Aligned – Founders don’t need to agree on everything, but alignment on vision is non-negotiable.

Chapters:

01:02 – Meet Ben and Cody + What 5 Star Interpreting does 03:24 – The challenge: leading without doing 07:10 – Why the same metrics won’t get them to the next level 12:58 – Building trust through dashboards + team decision-making 19:42 – Reframing leadership roles as visionaries 25:06 – Personality conflicts + Enneagram insights 31:22 – Developing their right-hand leader for operational autonomy 35:44 – Takeaways + next steps from the session

Read the transcript here

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