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Russ/Reeder

The Hero Test

Does your business run without you?

Ten statements, five minutes. Answer for the business as it runs today, not the way it is supposed to run.

By Russ ReederUpdated October 2026

The Hero Test is Russ Reeder's diagnostic for one question: if the person running this quit tomorrow, would it still work? Each statement maps to one of the five elements of VOOCS, the execution framework he built, so your score shows where the business depends on a hero and where to start building the system instead.

  1. 01My leadership team could name this quarter's three priorities without asking me.
  2. 02We keep a written "no" list, and people use it to turn down work that does not fit.
  3. 03Every major initiative had a metric, a target and a deadline before the work started.
  4. 04My team can tell me whether we are on track without asking me what "done" means.
  5. 05Every important decision has one named owner, and that owner is not me.
  6. 06My direct reports can approve real spending and trade-offs without escalating to me.
  7. 07We run a weekly meeting that ends with decisions closed, not just status shared.
  8. 08Decisions stay made: the same question does not come back to me month after month.
  9. 09If my best person quit tomorrow, their work would still get done next week.
  10. 10If I took four weeks off with no email, the business would still hit its numbers.
0 of 10 answered