Awesomely Simple: Essential Business Strategies for Turning Ideas Into Action

4.2. Urgency Is Allergic to Bureaucracy

Nothing on the face of the earth is as deadly poisonous to a culture of urgency as bureaucracy. Red tape strangles urgency in a death grip. Multiple layers of decision makers crush initiative under the oppressive weight of indecision. If speed = success, bureaucracy = failure.

To create a culture that allows your top talent to deliver outstanding work with a high sense of urgency requires eliminating every possible impediment to fast action and the free flow of information across every level of the organization. Successful leaders give their people all of the tools, information, and resources they need to excel at their jobs and then get out of their way. To quote my friends at Microsoft, "Stop the insanity." ...