Firms need to give workers room to excel

By Kaye Parker

9 JULY 2011

“If you put fences around people, you get sheep. Give people the room they need.” That credo worked for William L. McKnight, the legendary leader of 3M, as early as 1924, and it continues to work for 3M today.

While the rest of us may admire that freedom, most organizations give it no more than lip service. It’s still more common to have a command-and-control culture.

Brian L. Carney, a London-based member of the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, who has won awards for both his commentary and his journalism, and Isaac Getz, a professor at the top-ranked ESCP Europe Business School, spent four years researching business in America, dividing them into “how” and “why” companies.

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