Daniel Mercer Executive mandate Executive Leadership Seat · USD 6,000 / month
90-day CEO mandate: Halewood Systems
What Daniel Mercer decides, what the founder keeps, and what happens on day 91.
Ruth Halewood has made every significant decision at this company for nine years, and that is now the constraint rather than the strength. This mandate hands four decision areas to a fractional CEO for 90 days, keeps five with the founder, and is explicit that nothing here creates a directorship.
From 5 January, Daniel Mercer holds the CEO seat four days a month with authority over the leadership team, the operating cadence, the priority list and spend to USD 25,000. Pricing, fundraising, equity, the founder's own role and anything legal remain Ruth's. Review on 5 April, either side may end it with 30 days' notice.
Document control
- Document number
- MAN-HAL-01
- Version
- 1.0
- Effective
- 5 January 2027
- Owner
- Daniel Mercer, Fractional CEO
- Approved by
- Ruth Halewood, founder and sole director
- Next review
- 5 April 2027
- Classification
- Confidential. Board and leadership team
Why
The problem this mandate exists to solve
Halewood has 34 people and one decision maker. Every hire, every priority change and every customer escalation reaches Ruth, and the leadership team has learned to wait rather than decide. The company is not short of capable people; it is short of anyone with permission.
| Observed | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Decisions queue at the founder | 17 of 21 items on the last three leadership agendas were for Ruth to decide |
| The leadership team does not lead | Four heads of function, none with a written budget or hiring authority |
| Priorities change without a record | Six 'top priority' initiatives named in Q3, three of them abandoned without a decision being taken |
| The board pack is written the night before | Confirmed by Ruth. It is her, alone, every month |
| Ruth works most weekends | Her words at the diagnostic, not an inference |
None of this is a criticism of the founder. It is the normal shape of a company that grew past the point where one person can hold it, and did not change how it decides.
Authority
Decision rights
| Daniel decides | Ruth decides | Board or shareholders | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterly priorities and the priority list | Yes | ||
| Leadership team structure and reporting lines | Yes | ||
| Operating cadence and what meetings exist | Yes | ||
| Discretionary spend to USD 25,000 | Yes | ||
| Hiring within an approved headcount plan | Yes | ||
| Adding headcount beyond the plan | Yes | ||
| Pricing and commercial terms | Yes | ||
| Dismissing anyone | Yes, with advice | ||
| Anything legal, contractual or regulatory | Yes | ||
| Fundraising, equity and the cap table | Yes | ||
| Ruth's own role and title | Hers alone | ||
| Ending this mandate | Either side | Either side |
Spend authority is per decision, not per month, and is not cumulative. Two USD 20,000 decisions in a week are two decisions Daniel may take; one USD 30,000 decision is not.
Cadence
How the four days are spent
| When | What | Who is there |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, weekly, 90 minutes | Leadership meeting. Decisions taken and logged | Daniel, four function heads |
| Monday, weekly, 30 minutes | Founder call, immediately after | Daniel and Ruth |
| Monthly, half day | Board narrative and pack preparation | Daniel, Ruth, Finance |
| Monthly, half day | One function deep dive, rotating | Daniel and one head |
| Quarterly, one day | Priority reset with the leadership team | Everyone |
| Between | Named enquiries answered within two business days | Within allocated time |
A reserved day is up to 8 working hours and includes preparation and follow-up, not only time in the room. Four days a month is roughly one day a week and is not an on-call arrangement.
The 90 days
What the mandate is for
-
Baseline, no changes
Attend, read, meet all 34 people in groups. Nothing is reorganised in the first fortnight.
-
Decision rights published internally
Every function head gets a written budget and hiring authority. This is the single change that does most of the work.
-
Priority list cut to five
From the current eleven. Ruth signs off the cut; Daniel runs it after that.
-
Cadence runs, decisions get logged
The weekly decision log is the evidence that this is working or not.
-
First board narrative not written by Ruth
Drafted by Daniel with Finance, reviewed by Ruth. The point is that it exists without her writing it.
-
Review against the measures below
Renew, revise or hand over. All three are acceptable outcomes.
Measures
How this gets judged on 5 April
| Measure | Today | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Decisions taken by someone other than Ruth | 4 of 21 on recent agendas | Over half |
| Function heads with written authority | 0 of 4 | 4 of 4 |
| Live priorities | 11 | 5, and the same 5 in April |
| Board pack authored by | Ruth, alone, night before | Daniel and Finance, week before |
| Decision log maintained | None exists | Weekly, with owners |
| Ruth's weekend working | Most weekends | Fewer. Not a measure we can be held to |
These are measurement topics agreed with the founder, not promised results. Revenue, margin and runway are reported at every review but are not the measure of a 90-day leadership mandate, because 90 days is not long enough for a leadership change to show up in them honestly.
Document control
Revision history
| Version | Date | Author | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 18 December 2026 | Daniel Mercer | Agreed and signed. Effective 5 January 2027. |
| 0.3 | 15 December 2026 | Daniel Mercer | Draft. Spend authority reduced from USD 50,000 to USD 25,000 at the founder's request, and made per decision rather than per month. |
| 0.2 | 11 December 2026 | Daniel Mercer | Draft. Dismissal authority moved from delegated to reserved after the founder raised a live employment matter. |
| 0.1 | 8 December 2026 | Daniel Mercer | First draft from the Company Direction Review of 2 December. |