I’m a bad manager, but a brilliant mentor

The secret to my business success: You can’t be good at everything, but you should be honest about what you’re great at, writes Shani Taylor.

Here’s the truth most business owners won’t admit: I’m a terrible manager. I don’t enjoy chasing people up. I don’t love checking in on task lists. I’m not the one who’ll colour-code your SOPs or host weekly stand-ups with a smile.

But I am damn good at mentoring, and I’ve been awarded two global coaching awards to back up that statement.

I’m great at casting vision, spotting potential, and helping people step into their highest performance. And instead of forcing myself to get better at management (which I hate), I built a business that lets me stay in my zone of genius; and gets the right people around me to handle the rest.

When I started out, I thought I had to do everything. Lead. Manage. Deliver. Sell. Market. Track KPIs. Chase invoices. You name it. I nearly burnt out trying to be the CEO and the cleaner. But the moment I gave myself permission to stop pretending I was good at all of it, everything shifted.

I stopped managing. I started mentoring. And my business exploded.

Let’s be clear: this wasn’t about checking out. It was about choosing. I chose to focus on what I do best – and to surround myself with people who are better than I am at the things I suck at. People who love structure. Who gets a thrill from spreadsheets. Who wake up excited to build systems.

That’s not me. And it doesn’t need to be.

Because what I bring to the table is leadership. Vision. Strategy. Energy. When I show up in that role, everything runs better. Our clients get more. Our staff perform better. And I’m not operating on two hours’ sleep, fuelled by resentment and double-shot coffees.

I’ve built my entire seven-figure business this way. I don’t play the “do-it-all” game. I double down on the things that make the biggest impact: mentoring, strategy, and real human connection. My team knows I’m not here to micromanage them. They also know I’ll fight for their growth, give them big opportunities, and challenge them to rise.

Too many founders are stuck in the messy middle and trying to grow a business that no longer fits, doing work they’ve outgrown, managing people they secretly resent. They’ve scaled a business around their old self, and now it feels like a cage.

I’ve been there. More than once. There were days I wanted to burn it all down. I hated my offers. Half my clients weren’t aligned anymore. And I didn’t recognise myself in the business I’d built. But what I did next is why I scaled to seven figures without losing myself, my joy, or my sanity.

I got honest. I stripped it back. I restructured everything based on what lit me up now, not what used to.

And here’s what I’ve learnt: you can’t scale a business that doesn’t match who you are now. You can’t lead a team if you’re micromanaging from a place of fear. And you definitely can’t mentor anyone if you’re too busy, stuck in meetings, trying to remember what the hell you actually hired them for.

If I’m not the manager, who am I? I’m the person who sees the fire in you when you’ve lost the plot. The one who helps you get out of the weeds and back into the big picture. The mentor who will tell you the truth you’ve been avoiding and then walk with you as you fix it.

That’s the leadership we need more of.

Not fake-it-till-you-make-it, “I took one online course” cosplaying. Not the kind of sales advice that sounds like it was pulled from a Pinterest board. Not perfection, not polish, not performative business-building.

We need business owners who are willing to burn down what no longer fits, and rebuild based on who they are now. Not who they were when they started.

The secret isn’t being good at everything. The secret is being honest about what you’re great at, then building a team that lets you stay there.

You don’t need to be a manager to scale. But you do need to lead. And that starts with owning your brilliance, even if it means saying out loud: “I’m not here to manage. I’m here to mentor.”

The sooner you admit it, the faster everything starts to work.

Shani Taylor is a Sydney-based business coach and entrepreneur.