A twenty-something man once went to a French restaurant in New York—the kind of place with tuxedoed servers. He told the waiter he had never eaten anywhere so fancy and had a hundred dollars to spend, then asked him to bring the best meal he could within that budget. What arrived was a feast worth at least $150, and he was treated like a king.
The experience stuck with him. That young man—who would later become a well-known executive coach, profiled in The New Yorker—came to believe in the value of trusting expertise and putting decisions in other people’s hands.
It’s a useful lesson for leaders: when you truly delegate, people often exceed your expectations.
As CEO of Jotform for two decades, I’ve seen the same dynamic play out inside our company. Successful teams don’t need more management; they operate better with less intervention. That said, leaders can help build communication patterns that reduce dependency and increase clarity. When information flows predictably and transparently, teams move faster with less friction—without constant supervision.
Here are the communication patterns that make that kind of autonomy possible.
Ownership, not oversight
As my company grew from a one-person startup to tens, then hundreds of employees, I realized that delegation was the only way to keep scaling. I had to focus my efforts on things that would make the biggest impact for our company. For the rest, I had to ensure there were people whom I could trust to execute as well or better than I could. Delegation enabled my company to become what it is today—35 million users and 800 employees.
That said, Airbnb founder Brian Chesky’s concept of “founder mode” also resonates with me. It’s a style of leadership that entails a founder taking a direct, hands-on approach across the board, rather than relying on a strictly top-down hierarchy.
