Bandwidth (Analog #1)

by Eliot Peper

She leaned forward. “I had a product manager, Gary. He was smart and hardworking, and his team liked him. But when his team built architecture, it was just never quite right. I knew what to do. I’d review everything and tell them how to fix it. Eventually, I started dropping in on their brainstorming sessions for new products to make sure they started out on the right track. But things got worse, not better. Six months later, Gary quit. He ended up founding another company that I had to spend twenty-seven billion dollars on in order to bring it under the Commonwealth umbrella. He could have done that happily as an employee, but I micromanaged him until he couldn’t take it anymore.”

building something meaningful requires you to let go of the obsession with perfection. It requires empowering others and trusting them to do their part, even if they do it differently than you might have. But trust is a two-way street. Autonomy means you’re held accountable.”