Summer is the season of blockbusters — impossible odds, last‑minute saves, and one hero who somehow fixes everything before the credits roll. That makes for great popcorn. It makes for a terrible business plan.
In a lot of small and mid‑sized companies, real life quietly runs on heroics. One bookkeeper is the only person who knows how to close the month in your accounting software. One tech knows how the core system really works. One manager is the only person clients trust when something goes wrong. Risk experts call this “key person dependency”: when too much revenue, knowledge, or trust lives in one or two people instead of in the business itself.
Research from industry surveys suggests that as many as 70% of small businesses say they’re highly dependent on one or two key people for success. If those people leave, get sick, or simply burn out, a big chunk of the company’s value can disappear with them. That’s not an asset. That’s a fragile plot twist waiting to happen.
Step 1: Spot the “Superhero” Dependencies
Movie heroes usually have a signature shot: the scene where everything slows down and you realize, “If they don’t pull this off, we’re done.” In your business, that moment often belongs to one person. To find your own “superhero scenes,” ask a blunt question about each critical function:
If this person disappeared for 60 days, what would actually break?
Advisers who work on key‑person risk suggest mapping out core areas — operations, sales, finance, IT, customer relationships — and noting where your honest answer is “we’d be stuck” or “no one else really knows how.” Project‑management folks call this a low “bus factor”, a darkly humorous term for how many people on your team would have to get hit by a bus before the project or business would be in serious trouble.
A bus factor of one might make a good character arc. It makes a brittle company.
Step 2: Turn Talent into Systems
The goal is not to get rid of heroes. It is to capture what they know so the business is not dependent on a single cape. That starts with documentation. Good documentation is simply writing down how things actually work — systems, steps, settings and decisions — in a place others can find and understand.
No one should be checking email or browsing the web with admin credentials. Create dedicated admin accounts used only
when necessary.
IT providers see this all the time: once network diagrams, app lists, passwords, and change histories are in a shared system instead of in one person’s memory, tickets resolve faster, onboarding improves, and emergencies are less chaotic. The same is true for non‑technical work. Short, plain‑English standard operation procedure docs (SOPs) for quoting jobs, onboarding clients, handling renewals, or closing the books turn “you have to ask Chris” into “follow this checklist.”
Documentation by itself doesn’t slow anyone down; done well, it actually saves time by reducing rework and “how did we do this last time?” moments.
Step 3: Raise Your “Bus” Factor with Tech and Cross-Training
Once the knowledge is out of people’s heads and into systems, you can use technology to spread it around. Shared project tools, ticketing systems and knowledge bases make it easier for multiple people to see status, history and next steps without relying on hallway conversations. Basic workflow automation — routing approvals, sending reminders, moving information between tools — removes repetitive tasks that often sit on one “go‑to” person’s plate.
From there, the human work is cross‑training. CFO and succession advisers recommend intentionally pairing people on critical processes, letting them shadow each other and sharing key client relationships so trust isn’t one‑to‑one. The aim is to move your bus factor up: not by diluting accountability, but by making sure no single absence can stall the plot.
The Ending You Actually Want
Blockbusters need a hero to save the day at the last second. Strong businesses don’t. They have systems that make the day boringly reliable.
When your technology supports shared knowledge, clear procedures and sensible automation, you still get to celebrate standout people — but your revenue, your clients and your future don’t depend on any one of them being superhuman. That’s not as flashy as a cape on a movie poster, but it’s a lot better for sleeping at night.