Jim Alampi

The single most critical leadership skill in growing companies is delegation. The absence of this skill in the CEO or at the executive team level causes more companies to get “stuck” than any other behavior. In a startup, being a hands-on executive is a useful characteristic, but once the number of people in a company grows, organizational complexity grows too. In order to take your company to the next level of growth, you must become a skillful delegator. 

Colin D. Baird, Vice President, Sullivan Curtis Monroe

Gemba is a Japanese term used in the lean world to define "the place where things are happening", and genchi genbutsu means "go and see for yourself". In American terms we might refer to it as Management By Walking, or Get Your Boots On.

CBS television has a hit show in Undercover Boss. The premise is that executives visit locations away from their offices where they don a different identity.  Employees not recognizing the boss are willing to give them far more accurate information about what it's like to work for the company than the boss gets from his own leadership team.