If you’re a leader, you got to where you are because you think strategically and are killer at execution. You simply can’t get far without being good at both.

Now that you’re in charge of people, though, your ability to increase impact depends on how well you manage other people. You need your team to become smarter, sharper, A-players.

Unfortunately, sometimes smart people (like you) accidentally traumatize their teams

You say you want your team to think harder and stop just doing exactly what you say. But every time they have a question, you just answer it. Or worse, you give them a wrist slap for bringing you a new idea.

I get it. You already don’t have time to do your own job, so you definitely don’t have time to clean up everyone else’s mess. But each time you give your team a wrist slap for stepping outside the box, you discourage them from trying new things.

So you have a dilemma: You want your team to think like an owner and bring you fresh ideas — and you want those ideas to be defensible.

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