Enigma Solution

Is it good for a boss to always take charge and lead from the front? Dictatorial style of management has several advantages. Plans are formulated quickly and decisions come even quicker. Action and outcomes are normally swift. The problems with bosses is that they inevitably come to believe that they alone know what is to be done, and how it has to be done, etc. They do not realise it, but in many cases they are defeated even before they start. Here is an example; Every fortnight we held a planning meet wherein we had all the heads of all departments would sit in to review the performance of previous fortnight and month. We would also review execution plans for the next fortnight and month. At these meetings we would review all failures and slippages pertaining to quality, quantity, schedule compliance and budgets and project status. As the boss I would try to understand what had transpired and almost always immedeately propose a solution. This worked wonderfully when the ...

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new”. - Albert Einstein Under the leadership of Tom Watson Jr. IBM (International Business Machines) came to be regarded as not only a great company but also a most profitable one. The vision and implementation were outstanding. The focus on people as the greatest asset was an important factor in IBM’s rise to greatness. The following example of handling mistakes illustrates extraordinary leadership qualities. A senior vice president lost US$ 250,000 (a very large amount of money at that time) on an initiative which did not succeed. The Executive crestfallen upon entering the office of Watson apologised and said " I am sorry for what went wrong, I accept full responsibility. You can expect my resignation on your table first thing tomorrow morning" . Watson rejected the offer of resignation saying, "we can't let you go, we have just spent $250,000 on your education". The gentleman in question subse...