Insubordination in Service of Resiliency and Safety
When in a leadership position, focus on intent instead of implementation, because others might have better ideas to reach the intent or goals because they are closer to the implementation. This requires creating non-overlapping spheres of autonomy (from Individual Contributors to the CEO), so everyone has the autonomy to decide how to do their job within their expertise. This requires two-way trust of course (including you trusting your managers).
This sometimes accidentally breaks down when words from managers, directors or CEOs are taken too seriously. Mentioning something in passing can be taken too literally, but it’s also up to the subordinates to protect the boundaries of their spheres of autonomy. Similarly, although it might sometimes take more time, people must own their own decisions. Even when that means taking weeks to come to the same conclusion in the end, this should not be considered wasted time.
Towards the end, there is a section on the scale of overly principled to overly pragmatic, which hit really close to home. Pretty sure that I’m the overly principled side of the spectrum and that it does backfire from time to time.