Delegating Work

# Delegating Work - All Guest Insights

*38 guests, 46 mentions*

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## Ben Horowitz
*Ben Horowitz*

> "managerial leverage means it is very simple... If I am kind of pushing you to kind of move your organization forward, then that's no leverage. What's leverage is if you're telling me what you should do and how you can push the company forward, that's leverage, then I'm getting more than I'd have if you weren't there"

**Insight:** True delegation (leverage) occurs when a report drives their own department's progress without constant prompting from the leader.

**Tactical advice:**
- Evaluate reports based on whether they are bringing ideas to you or waiting for your direction
- Consider a change if you find yourself constantly asking 'why aren't we doing this?'

*Timestamp: 00:27:08*


## Boz
*Boz*

> "One of the most powerful things we do is refuse to rule. Someone will bring me a thing. A lot of times we feel obligated to weigh in and help. I'll be like, 'Nope, but look, I think you've got it. I think the challenges you're facing are the right challenges.'"

**Insight:** Effective delegation involves intentionally stepping back when the team is struggling with the 'right' problems to build their autonomy.

**Tactical advice:**
- Explicitly tell reports when you are 'refusing to rule' to empower their decision-making.
- Differentiate between 'on assignment' work (low flexibility) and 'high flexibility' areas.

*Timestamp: 00:15:09*

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> "Mark, we joke inside of Meta, to this day, we call it the eye of Sauron. When Mark has determined that the thing that you're working on is the most important thing, there is no detail too small for him to notice."

**Insight:** Leaders should oscillate between high-level strategy and deep-detail involvement based on the criticality of the project.

**Tactical advice:**
- Identify the 'hinge' upon which success or failure happens and go deep into those specific 'weeds'.
- Use the 'Eye of Sauron' approach selectively for the company's most vital priorities.

*Timestamp: 00:31:17*


## Cam Adams
*Cam Adams*

> "I run everyone through the culture of Canva. One of those sections is on giving away your Lego, finding joy in the other things of building a team, passing on your experience, helping other people do great writing or great product building or great engineering."

**Insight:** Delegation is about finding fulfillment in enabling others to succeed and scale rather than holding onto tasks for personal identity.

**Tactical advice:**
- View scaling as a multiplier where you must change your own role to handle increased complexity
- Pass on experience to help others achieve high-quality output in writing, product, or engineering

*Timestamp: 00:00:12*

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> "Finding joy in the other things of building a team, passing on your experience, helping other people do great writing or great product building or great engineering is really what giving away your Lego is about. And we still encourage everyone to do that, to think about those moments where they need to level up in their impact, how they can bring their team along with them, how they can pass on their experience and help everyone really have a tremendous impact with the skills that they have."

**Insight:** True leadership growth requires transitioning from individual execution to coaching and system-building.

**Tactical advice:**
- Identify pivot points where you need to move from a contributor role to a coach role
- Focus on building systems and processes that allow the work to scale beyond your own capacity

*Timestamp: 00:18:56*


## Camille Fournier
*Camille Fournier*

> "I also think people don't delegate enough. So, if you don't delegate, then you get overwhelmed because your team doesn't know how to do anything, because you haven't bothered to spend the time delegating, which actually takes more time initially, usually, you have to teach people whatever it is that you're trying to get them to do."

**Insight:** Failure to d