Delegation is one of those leadership topics that sounds simple until you actually have to do it.

In this episode of The Working Theory Podcast, Max and Brooks talk about why delegation often fails in accounting firms, especially when leaders wait until they are already overloaded. They dig into the difference between simply offloading tasks and actually delegating responsibility, and why real delegation is less about getting work off your plate and more about developing people who can own outcomes.

They also bring the conversation into Karbon, SOPs, firm workflows, busy season, AI, and the fear that holds leaders back from letting others make decisions.

The big idea: if everything depends on you, your firm cannot grow beyond you.

In this episode:

• Why delegation breaks down when it starts from urgency
• The difference between task delegation and responsibility delegation
• How Karbon workflows can either support ownership or reinforce bottlenecks
• Why mistakes are part of leadership development
• How to set expectations without over-prescribing every step
• Why firm owners need to multiply decision-making across the team
• What delegation has in common with using AI effectively
• Why training someone to “replace you” may be the best thing for your career

Books mentioned:

• The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
• Turn the Ship Around! by David Marquet
• The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell
• Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni

Question for the comments:

What’s one thing in your firm that you’ve been offloading, but should probably be delegating as real ownership?

00:00 Delegation is more than getting work off your plate

01:19 Delegation as team development

02:12 Why urgent delegation usually fails

04:10 Delegate before busy season hits

05:06 Task delegation vs. responsibility delegation

07:44 What this looks like inside Karbon

10:43 Setting expectations without over-directing

13:20 The fear of mistakes, cost, and client risk

14:07 SOPs, standards, and ownership

15:06 Letting your team improve the process

17:14 Turn the Ship Around and leader-led bottlenecks

18:58 From giving orders to approving ownership

21:52 Why everyone keeps coming to you with questions

22:52 Accounting leaders need space for AI and strategy

25:39 Training your replacement does not make you irrelevant

27:29 Delegation and AI use the same leadership muscle

29:19 Final thoughts on growth, oversight, and mistakes

30:18 Books, memory, and Brooks being Brooks