Q: What was so effective about that approach?
A: You owned it. You just discovered it with your own eyes.
Q: How do you use that in management today?
A: I like to leave a cookie trail to the right answer. I find sometimes you can bring a horse to water but you can't always get it to drink. But I don't like to say, 'Look, this is how we should do it.' I like to provide some approach that helps the team that's thinking about the problem get to that answer. And when they get there, I might say something like, 'That's terrific. I was hoping you'd end up there. What a great solution.' It's hard, though, when the team doesn't get to where you want it go to. And then you have a difficult decision to make. Do you enforce your will or do you let the team learn from their approach?
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