I used this term a lot as a COO because getting this balance right is critical. At the “federal” level, certain requirements I defined for the organization were non-negotiable (“we are reporting our financials on this date, this way”) …other decisions were better left to the people on the ground  (“what’s the best way to thank Joe’s employees who worked crazy hours last weekend for the system cutover?”)

Companies often grapple with this issue because getting the balance is hard, but not getting this balance right can lead to real problems. Continue reading →