The newer manager looked surprised that a senior executive would consult with a junior employee: “Talk to him? Don’t we just decide what he’s going to do? It’s not a democracy.” When he heard about this, Mark clarified, “Well, ViaSat kind of is a democracy. We don’t just tell people what their jobs are. We give people choice about what they work on, as long as they perform at the level their co-workers expect.”
