Two of the best pieces of advice I was given when I started managing people almost 20 years ago was, delegate anything that anyone else can do and read ‘Good to Great’. I had no choice but to delegate as I had just started a role at Deloitte Tax as a Chief of Staff to their Director of Tax Policy and had a second full-time role to build out their operations in Hyderabad, India. The only way I was going to get things done in a 70 hour week was to count on the people around me and figure out pretty quickly who was best suited for which work.

Good to Great by Jim Collins profoundly changed how I worked and even lived my life after reading this. A key message for me was, focus on the things you are great at, even if you don’t like those activities. He was right, focusing on what you do well builds confidence and focusing on things you don’t particularly like but are great at builds discipline and perseverance.

Recently, I read The Power of Giving Away Power. The premise challenges the age old Pyramid management model and instead focuses on a "Constellation" model where each team member has distinct ownership of a business or initiative and those roles are inter-connected by a common goal.

When I look back at the last 3 years, I inadvertently built a Constellation model with this business which has been a key to our success. I knew two things going into this venture; what a quality product should look like and how to price it appropriately. Everything else is a reflection of the team I have around me and their ownership of key initiatives that have allowed us to evolve. 

If you have a few hours this is a worthwhile read that speaks to an effective culture for this new generation of workforce.