Seeing the future before others do part of being good leader

- George Clason

Today we have another of our Great Moments in Management, this one having taken place at breakfast. Breakfast? I don't know about you, but I've never had a career-altering breakfast; lunch, yes, but never breakfast, or, come to think of it, dinner.

David Sears had his career Big Breakfast more than two decades ago, when he was head of shipping and logistics for a magazine and software publishing company. At the time, he'd had some anxious moments, wondering if his job was going in the wrong direction because he recently had been reassigned and had gone from reporting to the CEO to reporting to a VP.

When that VP, Diane Carhart, invited him to breakfast, he was perplexed and even a bit concerned. It turned out that his new boss wanted to talk about the upcoming corporate move (consolidating four offices while moving the headquarters to a nearby city). Sears describes what happened next: "She shocked me. I dropped the pancake I was about to bite into. Diane said, 'I want you to be in charge of the move.' "

He wondered aloud if he was the right one for such a complicated and visible task. She replied, "You're smart; you have the skills; you're the only one in the company to do it." He then wondered, but didn't say, what you probably are wondering, too: "Is this just because she didn't want to do it herself?"

Later, though, Carhart made clear the opportunity, telling him: "You'll make the decisions. Just tell me what you decided." Notice in that sentence the marvelous, energizing use of the past tense - it wasn't the faux-trust of "Tell me what you decide," meaning, "Check with me and I'll tell you if I'm going to let you decide that"; no, it was the genuine trust of "decided."

How did it work out? First, because Sears thought so highly of Carhart, her faith in him caused him to re-evaluate himself: "Maybe there's something more in me than I thought." He ended up describing it as a pivotal moment in his career. And Carhart not only kept her word about letting him decide, but she was quick to give him all the credit.

You might be tempted to think that this is not a big deal, because the company wasn't very large and, after all, it was just an office consolidation. However, it changed how David Sears saw himself, and changed forever how he saw the role of a manager. He has since taken pride in offering big opportunities to his employees in the companies he has run, including hiring a friend stuck in a job loading asphalt trucks who ended up as his VP of finance, a process Sears calls "having greatness thrust upon him."

How did things turn out through the years? Sears is now CEO of YouFloral.com, a company that recently rated a feature on the "Today" show for its personalized vases. Meanwhile, his old boss, Diane Carhart, went on to become COO of the Stonyfield Farm food company.

What makes their breakfast a Great Moment in Management is that we glimpse a manager as leader, and being a leader means seeing the future before everyone else does. There's magic in taking a chance on employees before they are considered ready. Knowing who's ready for a not-ready assignment is the mark of a true leader.

Dale Dauten is co-founder of AgreementHouse.com, a company that resolves business disputes. Contact him at dale@dauten.com