How to run a founder-led C-suite: the meeting cadence

You've built the C-suite. Now you have a CFO, a Chief People Officer, maybe a COO. And a calendar that looks exactly like it did when they were Heads Of.

That's the most common mistake I see after the C-suite goes in. The people change and the meetings stay the same.

The weekly leadership meeting

Most scaling companies run a weekly leadership meeting. Everyone reports on their function. Finance talks while People listens. People talks while Marketing checks email. It's a status report with very expensive people in the room.

Once you have Chiefs, most of that reporting belongs in 1:1s. The full table should meet less often, on bigger questions.

The cadence I give founders

This is the rhythm I recommend once the C-suite is in place. Adjust it to your business, but start here.

• Full leadership team: monthly. Long-term and cross-company issues only.
• CFO: weekly. Cash moves fast, and the CFO is often your closest thinking partner on the plan.
• Chief People Officer: every 2 weeks. Hiring, performance, and the health of the leadership team itself.
• Marketing: once or twice a month. It depends on the season and how much is launching.
• Other Chiefs: set by need. A COO in a heavy build phase might need weekly time. In a steady quarter, every 2 weeks is enough.

What the monthly meeting is for

The full table meets for questions that need everyone. Where the company is going. What you stop doing. Which seat you need next. The market you're about to enter, or leave.

Give it real time. A monthly meeting squeezed into an hour turns back into a status report.

A simple test: if an agenda item could be settled between you and one Chief, it doesn't belong at the monthly meeting.

What the 1:1s are for

The 1:1s carry the operating load. That's where the numbers get read, the problems get raised early, and each Chief gets your full attention on their part of the business.

The frequency follows the risk. Finance gets weekly time because a cash problem can grow in days. People gets every 2 weeks because team problems grow slower but run deeper.

The rule under all of it: access

A cadence only works if the door is open between the meetings.

Every Chief needs to be able to reach you, any day, without booking time. If your CFO sees a problem on a Tuesday, they shouldn't wait for next Monday's 1:1.

In practice this takes work off your week. Problems reach you small, before they turn into meetings.

What changes for you

With this rhythm, your week gets fewer meetings and heavier ones. You spend less time hearing updates and more time making the calls only you can make.

That's the point of a C-suite. The Chiefs carry their parts of the company. You carry the direction, and you meet as a full table once a month to check you're all still carrying it the same way.

This is part of a series on how companies grow up, one step at a time. Previous: when to move from Heads Of to a C-suite.