This is a wise list developed by a leader. She calls it a manifesto: a guide to management.

 A Manager’s Manifesto

(1) Always get the full story before making a decision.

(2) It’s incredibly easy to ‘flip the switch’ and start writing people off after a few bad experiences. Resist at all costs. You were a bumbler once also. You made poor decisions. You learn and grow; so does everybody else.

(3) Sweep up the crumbs. Wipe the tables. Turn off the lights. Plug the holes that need plugging—even if it’s menial, even if nobody will know you did it. Do it in service of the product, the company, and this wondrous, magical thing you all are all together.

(4) Recognize that you cannot do everything. Close your eyes, fall backwards, and learn to trust.

(5) Clearly, there is a more efficient way to do the things you do. How? Ponder that on your daily drive home.

(6) Figure out which people rely on you and how you can help them be self-sufficient. You may feel important having a monopoly on salmon provisions, but if the whole village learns how to fish, it’ll free you up to do something else. Like figuring out how to grow wheat. Or how to domesticate those cute wolf-pups.

(7) Don’t say anything if it’s not actually contributing to the discussion. Your voice is not so melodious that it absolutely must be heard.

(8) Making the best decision is not as important as putting in the right processes to ensure that the best decisions are made.

(9) Dole out thanks and encouragement like you dole out opinions.

(10) Above all, this: never, ever get in the way. It’s better to twiddle your thumbs and squint up at the clouds than to obstruct progress for the sake of that stupid, childish thing called ego.

-Howe Q Wallace Jr