Leaders must steer a wary course between keeping their fingers in every pie, dictating in detail what is to be done by whom, and on the other hand slackening the rein so that assistants learn only by experience and make costly mistakes.

People have great potential if they want to train themselves. Perhaps the greatest challenge in training someone else is getting the person to want to be trained.

The gateway, I believe, is personal relationship. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, I've never been able to fully motivate a person I didn't like. The same is true of training. I can instruct someone I don't like. I can teach a person the expressways of Dallas whether I like him or not, but I could never develop that person's skills and talents.

I learned this from experience. While working with a certain individual, I wasn't making any progress, and I wondered why. Finally I realized I didn't like the man. He was outgoing and had good comprehension skills—but he overrated himself, and that ...