Hire Great People and Get Out of Their Way - Is Bad Leadership Advice

I've heard it a thousand times:

"Hire the best people and get out of their way."

Sounds empowering, right?

Here's the problem: it's often just an excuse for leadership avoidance.

Look, great leaders don't micromanage. But they also don't disappear.

Think of it like this - you wouldn't expect an orchestra to sound amazing just because every musician is talented. Without a conductor setting the tempo and keeping everyone in sync, you don't get music. You get noise.

Even a garage band needs someone keeping time.

Your job as a leader isn't to tell people how to do their job. It's to make sure everyone's playing the same song, at the same pace, moving toward the same outcome.

Alignment. Direction. Cohesion.

That's what turns individual talent into collective performance.

Hiring great people? That's step one.

Making sure they're aligned and empowered to succeed together? That's the real work of leadership.

So here's my question for you. Are you truly empowering your team - or are you unintentionally leaving them without direction?