General Partner at Flyer One Ventures. Launched VC firm after 15 years of professional experience, investing in exceptional founders.
There are two types of managers.
The first type believes in control. They check every email, review every deck and expect their team to run everything by them. They think, “If I don’t oversee everything, things will fall apart.”
The second type (me) takes a different approach. They give you a goal and leave you to figure it out—not because they’re hands-off but because they know that if they hire the right people, those people will do the job well.
I’ve built and run companies long enough to know that people do their best work when they have freedom, responsibility and full context—not a boss breathing down their neck.
Trust Works Better Than Control
Even though I am a manager, I don’t like to tell people what to do. One of my favorite lines from “No Rules Rules,” a book about the culture at Netflix, is: “Lead with context, not control.” While the idea isn’t new, it still serves as a compass for me when I run my businesses.
Give people full visibility into the business, the problems and the decisions at stake, then let them handle it. When people know why something matters, they don’t need step-by-step instructions from their team lead.
The alternative is painful to watch. I’ve seen managers refuse to let go, demanding constant updates and slowing everything down with unnecessary approvals.
Employees who work under a micromanager lose their morale and their productivity suffers. People never do their best work when they feel like they’re constantly being second-guessed.
Helping Without Hovering
When managers hear “give people autonomy,” they sometimes take it too far. They either micromanage or disappear entirely. Neither strategy works.
Helping at the wrong time is worse than not helping at all. Step in too early and people don’t see the value in your input. Step in too late, and they’re too frustrated to accept it. The best moment? When they realize they need it.
That’s why I don’t rush in with solutions. I make sure my team knows I’m available, but I don’t solve problems for them until they’ve grappled with them first. It’s like that famous George S. Patton quote: “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”
At every company I launched, I expected my team to act like owners. If they make a decision, they own the outcome—good or bad. That’s how people grow.
The Illusion Of Control
Micromanagement isn’t just frustrating, it’s counterproductive. When employees know their boss will swoop in and fix things, they stop taking full ownership. They stop pushing themselves.
I’ve seen it happen, especially when it comes to hiring. Many founders want to be so deep in every hiring decision that they review resumes and sit in on interviews for roles in which they have no direct expertise. This isn’t just the case with senior hires but even junior-level ones. The irony is that the best hires are usually the ones that founders don’t micromanage.
From Micromanager To Leader
One of the biggest mistakes new managers make is not shifting from doing to leading.
I’ve seen people step into leadership roles and obsess over small details, like changing a word in a deck or reviewing every marketing email. They aren’t leading a team, they’re just managing an extended version of their workload.
The shift to leadership requires stepping back and focusing on outputs, not processes. What matters isn’t how something is done but whether the outcome moves the company forward.
A good leader defines success clearly, sets expectations and gets out of the way. That doesn’t mean abandoning people; it means coaching instead of correcting.
Too many managers step in and fix mistakes themselves, thinking they’re saving time. In reality, they’re just training their team to rely on them instead of thinking independently. A good leader walks people through their mistakes and helps them learn from them, rather than just handing them a “corrected” version of their work.
And then there’s the helicopter manager—the one who jumps into every conversation, answers emails before their team can and fights battles that employees should handle themselves.
Managers like that think they’re being supportive, but what they’re really doing is robbing their team of the chance to develop confidence and resilience. Leadership isn’t about being the smartest person in the room; it’s about making sure other people get smarter.
The Best Leaders Know When To Step Back
Micromanagement feels safe because it gives you the illusion of control. But all it does is slow things down, kill creativity and make people afraid to take risks.
The hardest thing for a leader to do is step back. But that’s also what separates the great ones from the rest. The best teams don’t need a babysitter; they need a leader who trusts them enough to let them surprise you.
That’s what makes leadership exciting. And that’s why I’ll always choose trust over control.