Optimal Work Daily - Career, Productivity and Entrepreneurship 1910: Help Your Employees Think For Themselves AND Guideposts For Leadership and Culture Decisions by Amber Waugaman
Dec 23, 2025
Amber Waugaman emphasizes the importance of fostering employee independence. She reveals how constant oversight can stifle growth, sharing her own experiences with open offices. The shift to remote work illustrated the benefits of autonomy. Waugaman advises leaders to balance support while encouraging resourcefulness. She also discusses the need for ethical leadership that withstands public scrutiny, emphasizing that transparency can attract top talent and clients. Finally, the impact of keeping secrets on workplace culture is examined.
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Make Yourself Less Available Intentionally
- Encourage resourcefulness by balancing availability and autonomy for employees.
- Sometimes make yourself purposefully unavailable so people learn to think for themselves.
Helicopter Coworkers Stifle Growth
- Amber describes an open-office job where coworkers hovered and interrupted her calls constantly.
- Working from home during the pandemic gave her freedom to problem-solve independently and feel empowered.
Enabling Harms Both Employee And Manager
- Enabling employees creates codependence and harms both parties.
- Reshaping behavior after disempowering leadership is difficult but essential.