#82 – Ownership Doesn’t Equal Seat Fit | BMK Roundtable

Ownership Is Equity; Leadership Is Output

In mature MSPs, “partner” becomes a dangerous word when it substitutes for clarity. Equity can be shared. Outcomes cannot. The business does not reward intent; it rewards results—revenue generation, service delivery performance, and financial stewardship.

• Identity vs accountability: Being a founder is not the same thing as owning a measurable outcome.
• Seats precede judgment: Without defined outputs, performance becomes subjective.
• Democracy doesn’t scale: What feels fair early becomes friction later.

You Can Delegate Tasks, Not Accountability

Delegation is not the problem. Abdication is. When owners hand off strategy execution without retaining outcome ownership, urgency evaporates and cross-functional friction compounds.

• Owners hold the number: Employees can execute; owners must enforce prioritization.
• Activity ≠ progress: Motion without measurement creates the illusion of momentum.
• Sales/service friction is structural: It does not resolve itself without authority.

Strategy Requires Cadence, Not Just Vision

Strategy is not a slide deck. It is a recurring governance rhythm that forces trade-offs into the open. Without cadence, planning becomes theater—well-spoken intentions followed by unchanged behavior.

Re-Interview for the Roles You Already Have

The fastest diagnostic is simple: would you hire the current person—including yourself—into this seat today? If not, the issue is structural, not motivational. Left unresolved, it will surface later as burnout, buyouts, or stagnation masked as “being busy.”

Episode Highlights

• 00:01 — When “everyone does everything” stops working
• 06:19 — The glass-wall ownership model
• 12:29 — Delegation vs accountability
• 17:15 — Tactics-forward vs strategy-forward organizations
• 46:40 — Why the business only feels accountability

About the Guest: Ryan Alter

Ryan Alter is a former MSP owner and operator with deep experience navigating growth ceilings, exits, and post-acquisition integration. His perspective emphasizes cadence, accountability, and the realities of leadership beyond technical excellence.

About the Host

Josh Peterson is the CEO of Bering McKinley, a management consulting firm serving MSPs. He works with MSP owners to improve profitability, operational maturity, and enterprise value through accountability-driven execution.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does every owner in an MSP need to hold a leadership role?

No. Ownership is a financial and risk position; leadership is an accountability position. A business only requires that every critical function has a clearly accountable owner of outcomes. That person may or may not be an equity holder, depending on how the partnership and operating agreement are structured.

What’s the difference between owning a seat and helping in an area?

Owning a seat means being accountable for outcomes, not just participating in activities. You can help anywhere in the business, but if you own a seat, you are responsible for results, trade-offs, prioritization, and cross-functional resolution—regardless of who executes the tasks.

Can an owner delegate sales leadership to an employee?

An owner can delegate execution, but not accountability. Employees can build infrastructure, manage pipelines, and run playbooks, but the owner must still hold the number, enforce priorities, and resolve sales-to-service friction. When accountability is delegated, urgency disappears and progress stalls.

How do we address a partner who isn’t performing without damaging the relationship?

Start with the needs of the business, not personal judgment. Define the seat, clarify expected outcomes, and establish a cadence for review. Most conflict arises not from poor intent, but from undefined expectations. In many cases, the conversation is a relief rather than a rupture.

What if redefining seats leads to a partner wanting out?

That outcome is possible—but avoiding clarity doesn’t preserve harmony. It only delays and compounds dysfunction. If a partner’s strengths no longer align with what the business requires, the healthiest path forward may involve restructuring roles, compensation, or ownership to protect the enterprise.

How do we know if our roles are actually clear?

A simple test: could someone outside the company describe who owns sales, service, and financial outcomes—and how success is measured—after sitting in one leadership meeting? If not, roles may exist in theory but not in practice.

Why do MSPs often stall during the transition from tactics to strategy?

Because tactics feel productive and strategy feels expensive. Moving to a strategy-forward organization requires protected time, recurring cadence, and visible accountability. Without those, planning becomes episodic and execution reverts to heroics.

What’s the first practical step to fixing unclear ownership?

Define the seats before discussing the people. Identify the outcomes the business requires, assign clear accountability, and install a weekly or monthly cadence that forces visibility. Structure precedes behavior.

Want to Continue the Conversation?

If your MSP is paying the hidden cost of unclear ownership—slipping margins, stalled growth, or internal friction—Bering McKinley can help you define seats, clarify outcomes, and install the cadence that turns strategy into execution.