The upper echelon of leadership is occupied by relatively few people. Admittance to this club requires the candidate to do a couple of things. One of the things it requires is a certain type of bravery. The candidate must have said “no” to a potentially lucrative initiative. An initiative so enticing, other people in the organization raise their eyebrows in disbelief when the no-go decision is shared. An initiative so alluring, that someone with organizational power seeks an explanation. The reason it was declined? The initiative was too far removed from the organization’s primary mission. And, the candidate knows that initiatives that run down rabbit trails steal money, time, and attention from other initiatives that are better aligned. To focus on the great means we must set aside the merely good.
With your teams, don’t get out of the way, do this instead
"Get out of the way!" I often hear some version of this sentiment when talking about building a culture to incentivize high performance teams. "You have to find the right people, equip them, and then get out of the way." People who talk about getting out of the way...