Most of us gloss over telling the truth about our bodies, our calendars, and our roles because it’s uncomfortable.

And instead of calling it uncomfortable, we scoff and just say it’s a waste of time.

But the highest performers I know have a deep understanding that in order to perform at our peak, we have to be willing to talk about the things that make our eyes roll, too.

Step 1: Tell the Truth About Your Aliveness

Before you touch org charts or titles, answer one question honestly:

Am I still alive in this role?

Signals you’re not:

• You dread recurring meetings that used to energize you.

• You find excuses to skip leadership calls or ghost parts of the business.

• You’re regularly disassociating - overworking, substances, numbing behaviors - just to get through the week.

• Your body is quietly screaming through poor sleep, chronic tension, and zero excitement.

Integrity starts with:

You cannot step down with integrity if you’re still lying to yourself about how misaligned you are.

Step 2: Separate Mission, Vehicle, and Role

Most founders blur three distinct questions into one:

1. Mission: Do I still believe in why this company exists?

2. Vehicle: Am I still aligned with this business model/strategy as the way to express that mission?

3. Role: Am I the right person to be CEO/operator of this entity right now?

Don’t throw everything out because one layer is misaligned. Ask:

• If I redesigned my role around my zone of genius, would that be enough?

• If someone else ran this model differently, would I be excited to stay involved?

Here’s simple test Zion used: he asked himself,

If the honest answer is no, you’re not just misaligned with the role, you’re misaligned with the vehicle. That’s a strong indicator it’s time to plan an exit.

Step 3: Audit Your Motivation: Fear or Desire?

Stepping down with integrity requires you to examine why you’re still there. Common “noble” reasons that are actually fear:

• “I need to provide for my family” (when the subtext is: I’m terrified to lose control).

• “I just have to see this through” (when it’s really: I don’t want to feel like a quitter).

• “I don’t want to get distracted” (when the thing that lights you up is clearly somewhere else).

Use these prompts:

• If I had all the money I needed in the bank, would I still choose this role?

• Does this decision come from genuine desire or from guilt, duty, or proving energy?

• When I imagine doing this for two more years, do I feel alive or numb?

You’re not trying to eliminate pain; meaningful work and a meaningful life always comes with pain.

Instead, you need to choose the kind of pain you’re best designed to hold.

Step 4: Untangle Your Identity From the Company

A big part of what makes stepping down so destabilizing is this:

“If I’m not the CEO of this company… who am I?”

Your identity may be fused with:

• Revenue milestones (“I’m the person who built this to $X.”)

• Headcount, title, or public perception.

• Being the one who “holds it all together.”

Start noticing the inner voices that say:

• If you step down, you’ve failed.

• You’re abandoning your team.

• Without this company, you’re nothing.

Those voices are old programming, not your actual Self. Name them. Get curious:

• Whose voice is this actually - a parent, an old boss, a past partner?

• If I stopped trying to prove anything to anyone, what would I actually want?

You cannot exit cleanly if you’re still using the company to fill a worthiness gap.

Step 5: Decide: Is This Still a “Full-Body Hell Yes”?

At some point, the reflection needs to turn into a decision. Two binary filters:

1. Founder-Company Fit Test

   • Knowing what I know today, would I buy this company and sign up to run it?

   • If the answer is no, that’s data you cannot ignore.

2. 10-Year Horizon Test

   • If money were handled, could I see myself doing this for the next 10 years?

   • No “maybe.” It’s either a hell yes or it’s a no.

If both are a no, staying isn’t loyalty. It’s self-betrayal wrapped in responsibility. And everyone around you feels it.

Step 6: Choose and Enroll the Right Successor

Once you know you’re stepping down, your next responsibility is continuity, not control.

Look for a successor where:

• The mission is their dharma. They light up talking about it.

• The CEO work (holding the vision, making hard calls, carrying the weight of the org) sits in their zone of genius.

With your successor:

• Co-create the next chapter: What is this company becoming?

• Let them define the future vision and enroll you into it - that’s how you know they truly own it.

• Be honest about the current reality: what’s working, what’s broken, where the bodies are buried.

Your role here is to be a bridge, not a shadow CEO.

Step 7: Build a Real Transition Plan. Don’t just disappear.

Don’t just “announce and vanish.” Treat the transition like a critical initiative with a clear roadmap.

Design:

• Responsibility Handoff:

  • Which decisions and domains move first?

  • When do your direct reports formally roll under the new CEO?

• Rhythm:

  • Weeks 1–4: You co-lead key calls; they shadow and start leading.

  • Weeks 4–8: They lead; you attend selectively and debrief offline.

  • Months 3–6: You shift into a coaching/advisory cadence only.

The goal:

• Transfer not just tasks and titles, but the energetic weight of running the company in a way your successor can actually metabolize.

Step 8: Over-Communicate for Psychological Safety

How you share the decision with your team matters as much as the decision itself. Zion calls this emotional safety, but I don’t think you’re protecting anyone’s emotions…instead, you’re making sure they understand that they’re allowed to feel sad or confused, and that it’s very normal.

Anchor your announcement in three parts:

1. Your Truth

   • What you’ve been feeling.

   • How you came to this decision.

   • Why this is in service of the mission and the team, not an escape.

2. The Plan

   • Who’s stepping in and why.

   • How long you’ll stay involved and in what capacity.

   • The concrete transition timeline.

3. Their Safety

   • What this does not mean (e.g., “We’re not abandoning this mission,” “I’m not disappearing,” “This isn’t a fire drill.”).

   • How they can access you during the transition window.

Before the group announcement:

• Have 1:1 conversations with your leadership layer so no one is blindsided.

You’re not just passing a baton; you’re stewarding the psychological safety of an entire organization. Doing it this way allows you to transition seamlessly with integrity, and the reality is no one on your team will be surprised when it’s time for you to go.

Step 9: Stay for the Handoff, Then Actually Step Back

Stepping down with integrity is not: sending a heartfelt Slack, doing a farewell Zoom, and disappearing.

It is:

• Committing to a defined window where your only job is to support the new CEO.

• Being available as a coach, not a shadow operator.

• Transferring relationships and context instead of hoarding them.

Here’s how you might choose to map out your transition:

• First 3 months: complete weekly Founder-to-New CEO coaching check-ins.

• Next 3 months: bi-weekly, moving toward strategic-only conversations.

Then - and this is crucial! - respect your own exit.

• Don’t linger in the gray zone.

• Don’t undermine by “just popping in” operationally.

• Let them lead.

Step 10: Close Cleanly and Step Into the Unknown

The way you end this chapter plants the seed for the next one.

👉 Integrity exit checklist:

• Have I told myself the full truth about my aliveness and alignment?

• Have I communicated that truth to my team in a way that honors their emotional safety?

• Have I chosen, prepared, and supported the next leader as fully as I can?

• Have I set and kept a clear boundary for my own exit?

Then, give yourself permission to not have the next thing fully defined.

• A pause is not a failure; it’s a recalibration.

• You don’t have to immediately replace one identity with another.

• The first “next step” might be a sabbatical, not a startup.

High intention, low attachment:

• Be clear on what you want more of (aliveness, zone of genius, desire-led work).

• Be unattached to exactly how it will show up.

Want more operational content?

Check out Coaching Founder for for downloadable Notion templates and write-ups on how to level up your execs, your teams, and yourself.

About Regina Gerbeaux

Shortly after her role as Chief of Staff, then COO, she opened her own coaching practice, Coaching Founder, and has worked with outrageously talented operators on teams like Delphi AI, dYdX, Astronomer, Fanatics Live, and many more companies backed by funds like Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz.

Her open-sourced write-ups on Operational Excellence and how to run a scaling company can be found here and her templates can be found here.

She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her partner, daughter, and dog, and can be found frequenting 6:00AM Orangetheory classes or hiking trails nearby.