“The Fixer”
Welcome to The Fixer, a weekly newsletter from The WayFinders Group.
You could be making headlines for all the wrong reasons, but it won’t happen to you because you’re here learning from other leaders’ spectacular missteps. Every Friday, we forensically examine the corporate crises that could have been avoided with foresight, fresh thinking, and a phone call to the right people (aka us!). We also provide the next installment of our agony aunt column, and the best escapism money can buy.
Friday’s fiasco: when founders flee a sinking ship
Last week, BrewDog co-founder Martin Dickie announced his departure from the craft beer giant “for personal reasons,” becoming the second founder to effectively abandon ship in less than 18 months. Combined with last month’s brutal bar closures – including their flagship Aberdeen pub – and years of toxic culture allegations, we’re watching a masterclass in how NOT to manage founder succession when your company is in crisis.
Our advice to BrewDog’s directors? Treat the founder departures as symptoms, not the disease.
When founders start fleeing during a crisis, it reveals fundamental governance failures that go much deeper than personality clashes or “personal reasons.” The real question isn’t why Dickie and Watt are distancing themselves – it’s what made their stay untenable. The pattern is clear: toxic workplace culture, employee mistreatment, regulatory scrutiny, and now founder flight. These aren’t separate problems requiring separate solutions. They’re symptoms of an organisation that lost its way and needs systematic repair from the ground up.
The real scandal isn’t personal reasons
When founders start talking about “spending time with family” whilst launching new ventures in completely different sectors, it suggests the founders no longer see BrewDog as the vehicle for their entrepreneurial energy. Dickie’s departure, timed alongside the bar closures, sends a devastating message to employees, investors, and customers: even the people who built this company don’t want to be associated with fixing its problems.
The timeline tells the story:
- 2021: Open letter from former workers highlighting “culture of fear” and “toxic attitudes”
- 2022: BBC investigation into James Watt’s alleged inappropriate behaviour
- 2023: BrewDog stops paying the real living wage, reverting to minimum wage for new staff
- 2024: James Watt “steps down” as CEO but stays involved as “captain”
- 2025: Bar closures with minimal notice + Martin Dickie’s departure
This isn’t coincidence. This is strategic distancing from a brand in freefall.
The path to organisational repair
This crisis is particularly damaging because it comes when the hospitality sector is already under massive pressure, with insolvencies up 20% and widespread cash flow pressures. When industry leaders demonstrate that even founders won’t commit to organisational repair, it undermines confidence across the entire sector.
Founder departures during crisis should enable recovery, not provide escape routes. BrewDog’s situation demonstrates why crisis management requires addressing root causes, not just managing departures.
The restoration they need requires acknowledging the full scope of problems without euphemistic language, rebuilding from values up rather than just recruiting new leadership, centring employee experience to rebuild trust, and creating genuine accountability structures with independent oversight.
When even the founders can’t find a reason to stay, it’s time to ask what the company is offering everyone left behind.
Fix me!
Dear Leah,
I’m the Chief Strategy Officer in a really awkward situation. Our CEO announced his retirement six months ago, and the Chair immediately started positioning our incoming CEO (current COO) as the “real decision-maker” whilst the outgoing CEO serves out his notice. The problem is, our current CEO has basically checked out – he’s going through the motions but clearly feels undermined and irrelevant. Meanwhile, the incoming CEO is making decisions and commitments that contradict things the current CEO committed to just weeks ago. The senior team doesn’t know who to follow, and our people are confused about who’s actually in charge. Yesterday, a major client asked me directly, “Who should we be dealing with for the next six months?” I honestly didn’t know what to say. The Chair seems oblivious to the chaos this is creating. How do I manage a leadership vacuum when technically we have two leaders?
– Living in Leadership Limbo
Dear Living in Leadership Limbo,
Welcome to organisational purgatory, where good intentions create terrible outcomes. Your Chair has accidentally created a power struggle by trying to smooth a transition, and now you’re all paying the price for their lack of clarity.
DIAGNOSIS: This is a classic case of authority without accountability meeting accountability without authority. Your outgoing CEO still holds the title but has been stripped of real power. Your incoming CEO has operational control but no formal mandate. The result? Decision paralysis and a leadership vacuum. Leadership transitions require surgical precision, not gradual erosion.
THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM: Your Chair fundamentally misunderstands how transitions work. You can’t have two captains steering the ship – it confuses the crew and terrifies the passengers (your clients).
THE PATH TO RESOLVING IT: Someone needs to force clarity on the Chair immediately. Propose a clean handover date – say in 2-4 weeks – where the current CEO steps back completely (perhaps moving into an advisory or mentoring role), and the incoming CEO assumes full authority. Until then, establish clear decision-making protocols: current CEO for legacy issues, incoming CEO for forward-looking commitments.
YOUR ROLE GOING FORWARDS:
- Document the chaos. Keep a record of contradictory decisions and client confusion to present a compelling case for immediate resolution.
- Protect client relationships. Create a simple communication explaining the transition timeline so clients know exactly who to engage with.
- Force the conversation. Present the Chair with evidence that limbo is more damaging than a clean break.
Sometimes being helpful means being direct about what isn’t working.
Feel-good Fixes
Leaders have long days too, so here’s what we’re loving at The WayFinders Group this week:
Find your flow: with the Disruptor’s Journal: Some moments change everything. Sometimes they’re bold decisions—quitting a soul-draining job or launching a dream project. Other times, they’re quiet choices—choosing rest over hustle, speaking up when silence feels easier. These are your Disruptor moments—everyday actions that spark meaningful change. But how often do we pause to capture them? That’s why The Disruptors Journal exists as a guided tool to capture the choices, shifts, and moments that shape your life. With prompts and quotes from positive Disruptors, it helps you stay focused, grounded, and growing with intention. If you’re breaking the mould, this isn’t optional. RRP £14.99.
Flex your brain: at Misan Harriman’s photographic exhibition “The Purpose of Light” at Hope 93 Gallery. The collection documents five years of protest movements – from Gaza to Grenfell, SARS to BLM – capturing moments where communities demanded accountability from institutions that failed them. Harriman’s lens finds the humanity in collective action, showing how ordinary people become extraordinary when systems let them down. What strikes you about the work is how it frames protest not as disruption, but as restoration – people fighting to rebuild trust in the very institutions they’re challenging. The exhibition raises fascinating questions about leadership, accountability, and what happens when formal channels fail.
Fuel your body: Feeling sluggish as September hits? Turns out the Japanese have been secretly weaponising citrus scents in their offices for decades – diffusing lemon in the morning for energy and jasmine in the afternoon for focus. Science calls it Aromachology, we call it genius. Unlike your other senses, smell sneaks straight past your conscious mind and hijacks your emotional brain before you even know what’s happening. So whilst you’re reaching for your third espresso, consider that a few drops of sweet orange might do the trick without the caffeine jitters. Your limbic system (and your productivity metrics) will thank you.
Feed yourself well: recipe of the week is Diana Henry’s courgette parmigiana. ‘Nuff said.
