EMPOWER Others
CHAPTER 25
Delegate authority and give permission
“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”
—GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON JR.
IN THE MID-1970S, Orville Sweet was CEO of the American Polled Hereford Association. As any CEO will tell you, one of his or her unenviable tasks is having to fire a close friend and colleague. Such was the case for Orville that year. For our purposes, details of the firing aren’t nearly as important as what happened a few days after.
Orville got a distressing call from the wife of the man he’d let go. Apparently, he wasn’t coping very well. In fact, she was concerned he was suicidal. Orville asked her to put him on the phone. The man admitted ...
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