Managers can tell you how to do a task. And get frustrated when it’s not good enough. And find someone else with that level of skill.
Leaders assess your potential. If they know you have the potential, because they know your potential well, they let you do a couple 70 and 80-percent jobs, on your way to 100, then 110, 140, and 200% jobs.
So one aspect of leadership is knowing how to know who someone is. Managers never get there, so they McKinsify work, which always moves at a predictable (safe), 1x pace.
By nudging and building confidence in a team member that they’re making the right decisions towards the objective, you teach executive thinking, which leads to dynamic problem-solving and effective micro-decisions (plus motivation, and connection of work to meaningful results, which builds joy). That’s a path to the 10x pace.
