Fail, fail, fail, fail, succeed

Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen

In the planning and brainstorming phase, it’s important to have input from multiple qualified sources. But there are certain critical situations where there can be only one person in charge. Anything more creates a dangerous and unstable environment that will not hold. Extraneous input undermines the authority of the designated leader – and this is often someone who has spent years preparing themselves to assume that role.

I’m not going to get too specific here, but examples aren’t hard to come up with. A military commander in the field, a chef in the kitchen, a surgeon in the operating room, an air traffic controller… You get the idea. One person has a mission critical job to perform and a team to lead with precision and great responsibility. Anyone not working closely with this leader cannot intervene independently without compromising the integrity of the operation and the safety of those involved.

I guess the real lesson here is this: You hired someone because you thought they could do the job. Now get out of their fucking way and let them do it.