Leading from the middle of the ocean.
The large companies I worked at often wanted head/central offices to provide strong leadership - clear direction, precise standard operating procedures, and possibly, a bit too much, in my opinion, micromanagement.
Often, we didn't trust the people who were hired to do the work, the people who directly interact with our customers.
The pessimist in me offers a few ideas:
They don't know what you know.
They are not thinking of the big picture.
They are not going to be consistent.
We can't report up what we can't directly manage.
They can't be trusted to do what we want.
We know better.
Truthfully, I don't like this way of thinking - it's just not me.
I'm a fan of Krulack's law - where the future of the business is in the hands of people doing the work, not the C-suites back home.
Why do I think this way?
Because the people who do the work, presumably, are hired for their passion.
Because the people who do the work see, first hand, the customer.
Because the people who do the work can quickly innovate new solutions and share them up and out!
It's like putting sand in your gently cupped palm and then squeezing - most of the sand will be squeezed out. In the same way, why would an organization squeeze out its talent?
If I've learned anything about leadership or how to step into a posture of possibility, it's that leadership can be done at any level and from anywhere - even in the middle of the ocean.
