# Professional-CEO consensus-gathering versus dictatorial founder unilateral decisions.

**Practitioner:** Eoghan McCabe
**Source:** Lenny's Podcast — Eoghan McCabe episode
**Timestamp:** 27:20
**Move:** 3 of 8

## The tension

Professional-CEO consensus-gathering versus dictatorial founder unilateral decisions.

## Where they landed

Extreme dictatorial — unilateral calls even when uncertain.

## What they accepted to lose

Accept the cost of soft coup attempts, letters to the board, public attacks.

## Verbatim

> I said, "Sorry, this is what we're doing." So, I was very dictatorial in that respect.

— Eoghan McCabe, Lenny's Podcast, 27:20

## Load-bearing phrase

*Sorry, this is what we're doing*

## What it pushes back against

The professional-CEO playbook of consensus-gathering.

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**Source attribution:** This call is drawn from Lenny Rachitsky's public podcast archive at [LennysData.com](https://lennysdata.com), released April 2026 with an explicit invitation to builders.

**Verify on votu.app:** [https://votu.app/move/mccabe-3](https://votu.app/move/mccabe-3)

**License:** Verbatim quotes are © the original speaker; attribution and timestamp guaranteed accurate to the source transcript.