Management 3.0: Leading Agile Developers, Developing Agile Leaders

Chapter 7. How to Empower Teams

Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.

—Elie Wiesel, writer, political activist, Nobel Laureate (1928–)

Sir Francis Bacon once wrote the famous words “knowledge is power.” (Actually, he wrote “for also knowledge itself is power,” but history decided that wasn’t catchy enough.) This resonates with the idea that knowledge workers are (em)power(ed) workers. They have the knowledge, so they are the ones wielding the real power in their organizations. Yet they often don’t realize this.

Though managers still have the power to hire and fire employees, in knowledge-rich environments, knowledge workers have the most critical jobs. Management is nowadays often compared ...