Leading at Light Speed is an excellent leadership book by Eric Douglas showing you step-by-step how to implement 10 Quantum Leaps that build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization.

Quantum Leap #3 is all about Leading Through Others.

To maximize your impact, you have to lead through others. For the leader, this means it is critical to recruit and hire the right players, delegate responsibility to them, and provide them with the tools and systems to succeed. Consequently this means getting rid of players who can't successfully adapt. Each player on the court needs to elevate the others, especially in this technology driven environment. It is critical to understand and develop those habits of highly effective teams. Being a leader requires you to, continually watch the team's dynamics, bench the players who aren't making progress, and let those who make themselves ready play a starting role.

When asked the secret of her cooking, the renowned chef Alice Waters liked to say: “Always start with the right ingredients.” When asked why he liked combining one or two superstars with a bunch of younger, unknown players, L.A. Lakers basketball coach Phil Jackson said: “They elevate each other’s game.”

“Get the right people on the bus,” is how Jim Collins puts it. Leading at light speed means finding good people and giving them what they need to succeed. Of course that is easier said than done. This chapter offers some of the tricks. It is about a shift in logic – from thinking about yourself to leading through others. The example of Wells Fargo and Bank of America is used by Jim Collins to exemplify the difference.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank had similar revenues and profit margins. Bank of America was directed by a leader who, by dint of his strong personality and commanding nature, had assembled a passive team of “yes men." Ahead of the curve, Wells Fargo CEO, Dick Cooley, was able to gather together one of the most dynamic management teams in the industry. At Wells Fargo, people posed tough questions to one another and weren’t afraid to challenge the status quo. They felt free to challenge each other’s thinking. Those relationships are based on trust between individuals not dictatorship.

In the early 1980s, banking deregulation took place, triggering a revolution in the industry. The industry's conventional profit margins were in danger. Seeing the changes coming, the Wells Fargo management team focused on cutting costs. They realized that banking was starting to become a commodity business and profit margins were thinner than they had been. “Run it like you own it,” became their mantra. In contrast, BofA reacted slowly. The country club culture prevailed. Not one person challenged the status quo. The outcome? Over a fifteen-year period, from 1983 to 1998, Wells Fargo’s stock outperformed BofA’s by 500 percent.

“We” leaders surround themselves with the right people. They have sense enough to pick good people and to know what needs to be done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. Leadership doesn't mean controlling every decision. Their goal is to delegate. Empowering people creates an environment where they are engaged and feel free to ask tough questions and give conflicting opinions. Successful leaders understand that this atmosphere is a positive sign that change is in the air. This kind of friction is therefore welcomed to keep sparks flying.

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