Founder dependency is usually not a personality problem. It is a missing decision-rights and reporting problem.
The symptom and the cause are different
When a founder says "nothing moves without me", the explanation offered is usually about people: the team is not senior enough, they do not take ownership. Sometimes that is true. More often, the team cannot decide because nobody has written down who is allowed to decide what, and within which limits.
People do not escalate because they are passive. They escalate because escalating is the only safe option.
Decision rights, in writing
For the ten decisions that reach you most often, write three columns: who decides, who must be consulted, and what the limit is (budget, risk, customer impact). Most of those ten will move down one level immediately, without any change in the team.
The remaining ones are the real leadership decisions — and they deserve your attention.
Reporting is what makes delegation safe
Founders take decisions back when they cannot see what is happening. A weekly one-page view of the few numbers that matter usually reduces the urge to intervene more than any conversation about trust.
Clarity of roles, decision limits and a reliable weekly view: those three together are what turns firefighting into operating.
