How to take a real vacation without texting your team — with Mike DeJong

Mike DeJong calls it the operator trap: the conviction that a business owner must touch every task or the whole operation stalls. This belief keeps many founders glued to their phones even on supposed time off.

In this episode Jo McKee speaks with DeJong, a former pilot turned leadership coach and Tony Robbins Platinum Partner, about what it takes to build a company that runs without the founder’s daily input.

What the operator trap looks like in practice

DeJong describes owners who treat every decision as their personal responsibility. They review every invoice, approve every hire, and answer every client query. The result is predictable: stalled growth, tired owners, and teams that wait for instructions instead of acting.

He contrasts this with owners who deliberately shift from doing the work to designing the system that delivers the work. The difference shows up first in small choices, such as refusing to answer a team message on a weekend and letting the documented process handle it.

Aviation habits that transfer to business

DeJong draws on his years as a pilot to explain how checklists and clear roles reduce single-point failure. In the cockpit no one person holds all information. The same principle applies when an owner writes down the exact steps for closing a sale or handling a complaint.

Once those steps exist on paper or in software, the owner can test whether the team can execute without constant oversight. Most owners discover the gaps only after they stop intervening.

Delegation that actually sticks

DeJong stresses that delegation fails when owners hand over tasks without also handing over authority and a clear standard. He recommends starting with one repeatable process, documenting it, training one person, and then measuring the outcome for thirty days before touching it again.

The test is simple: can the owner leave for a week and return to the same results without having texted the team? If not, the system or the training still needs work.

About Mike DeJong

Mike DeJong is a professional speaker, leadership coach, Tony Robbins Platinum Partner, and former pilot who helps business owners escape the operator trap through systems, delegation, and disciplined leadership.

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