Dave: We had a saying at Build-a-Bear that
one plus one equals 10. When everything
centers upon one leader, then one plus
one only equals two because the capability and impact only expands to the size
of one person’s capabilities. But, when we
work together and get others’ perspectives
and others empowered it actually has an
amplifying effect. We think that collaboration and empowerment were the keys to
our success and getting beyond any one
individual in the organization.
Mike: What’s more, when you follow this
line of thinking, you achieve a higher
employee retention rate and, as leaders,
having a higher retention rate of empowered employees is huge. When you
have retention, you get to that sweet spot
where you don’t have to show everyone
how to tie their shoes and the ability to
lead isn’t just on you. Everyone on your
team is empowered to lead because you
have enabled them to do so.