There's no I in power

In Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver visits Lilliput, where he -- a relative giant -- is overcome by hordes of (relatively) minuscule Lilliputians. Many analogies can (and have been) drawn from this tale; the one I'd like to muse upon here is the power of the collective over the power of the individual.

As both a leader and a manager, there is a temptation to try to solve the problems people bring to us, that is, to be the one with the answer, the "go to" person -- "just bring it to me and I will take care of it." This can be a result of wanting (or needing) to reinforce authority, and it can be a well-intentioned desire to make things easier for the people around us.

Either way, we've all heard that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

When I make myself the center of problem-solving and decision-making, I am laying down an I-shaped brick bottleneck. People have to wait for me to attend to all the other important problems I am handling before I can attend to theirs. And, after they've waited, I can only give them the insights and knowledge of one person: me. In Gulliver's Travels' terms: I am trying to be the Lilliputian with the one big rope that can hold Gulliver down.

Uhm, but, the message was: There is no one big rope that can hold Gulliver down. So, if I want to see the giant held down (and, incidentally, just possibly, maybe, help build a stairway to heaven), I do much better by relaying to, trusting in, relying upon, all the individual threads that we possess. That is, there is greater power in the net than in the rope.

As a leader and manager, I get more authority and make things easier for the people around me when I nurture the net and let us be the center of problem-solving and decision-making. People get answers more quickly, and benefit from the insights and experiences of many individuals -- including, perhaps, just the right one. (Besides, it's a lot less work for me.)

In other words: Engage, delegate, empower. There is we in power but no I.

P.S. Einstein may have stood on the shoulders of giants; me, I stand on the shoulders of hundreds of midgets.

If you're interested in the power of we, I can recommend the book It's Your Ship.