The Danger of Distributing Power

If you delegate and distribute power to the edges of your organization, especially the young fringes, be prepared for fresh, brilliant work—and occasional colossal failures. Even with a talented, savvy team, they’re going to make mistakes when you give them room to roam. They’re not you. They don’t think like you. They’re going to do things you don’t like.

The only way to ensure you always get exactly what you want is to micro-manage every decision, movement, and project. But you’ll eventually end up doing that without a talented, savvy team. They’ll go elsewhere, where they can stretch their legs a bit and get to roaming.

Distribution of power will eventually lead to occasional off-mission decisions. You have to expect (and even embrace) a percentage of missteps from your team. It’s a part of the process of producing great work, but the on-mission ideas/implementations you’ll get in return are worth the trade-off.