Delegation doesn't come natural y to any of us. But I was trying real y hard to be
good at it. I knew how important it was to get into the delegation mindset. I was
When they asked, “How should we organize al the rooms in the new office?” I
said, “Any way you want to do it is fine.”
When they asked, “Which health-care plan should we go with?” I said, “You
guys choose. Take a vote. Whichever one you choose, I'l pay for.”
When they asked, “Which profit-sharing plan should we go with?” I said, “You
guys choose. Whatever you think is best.”
A local magazine voted CD Baby “Best Place to Work” in the state of Oregon.
Six months later, my accountant cal ed me and said, “Did you know that your
employees set up a profit-sharing program?”
I said, “Yeah. Why?”
He said, “Did you know that they're giving al of the profits of the company back
to themselves?”
Oops.
When I cancel ed the profit-sharing program, I became a very unpopular guy. In
our weekly company meetings, the general message from the employees was,
“We need to get Derek out of here, so he stops tel ing us what to do. We don't
need to answer to him! He needs to answer to us!”
Then I realized that there's such a thing as over-delegation. I had empowered my
employees so much that I gave them al the power. After a complete
communication breakdown, it was eight-five people (my employees) against one
(me). I became the scapegoat for al of their dissatisfactions.
I thought of trying to repair relationships with each of the eight-five employees,
over hundreds of hours of talking. But if you've ever had a romance break up,
you know that sometimes it's beyond repair.
So I considered firing everyone and hiring a whole new crew. I also considered
shutting down the company entirely, since I wasn't enjoying this anymore. I even
considered a Wil y Wonka move, where I'd put five golden tickets into five CDs
and then give the whole company to some lucky finder.
In the end, I did what was best for my clients and me: I retreated into solitude,
staying at a friend's house in London, and focused entirely on programming
some major new software features for CD Baby.
I never saw or spoke to my employees again. Never saw the office again.
I learned an important word: abdicate. To abdicate means to surrender or
relinquish power or responsibility; this word is usual y used when a king
abdicates the throne or crown.
Lesson learned too late: Delegate, but don't abdicate.
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