In his book Moments of Truth, Jan Carlzon, former CEO of the Swedish airline SAS, states that “An individual without information cannot take responsibility. An individual who is given information cannot help but take responsibility.” If we want those who fuel the success of our businesses, our workers, to be more engaged in that success, there are at least five questions that we, as leaders, must answer for every person on the payroll.

We’ve all heard of the Peter Principle, which states that “in a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.” One special flavor of the Peter Principle is something I call the Derek Principle (my apologies to those of you who share the name), after a brilliant software designer I once worked with, a young man who could apply his creativity and ability to work tirelessly toward the solving of some of the greatest technical challenges our company ever encountered. So skilled was he in the disciplines of coding, flowcharting and testing against all conceivable possibilities, that his manager naturally made the mental leap that Derek would make a terrific manager, able to lead and inspire others to the same high level of performance.