Some would have the subtlety of their wits proven by the meanness of their instruments... The excellence of a minister never diminished the greatness of his lord. All the glory of exploits reverts to the principal actor; also all the blame.
Baltasar Gracián, 1647 (tr. Joseph Jacobs, 1892)
The insecure manager's arithmetic says: surround yourself with lesser people and you will look greater by contrast. One line demolishes it: all glory reverts to the principal anyway, and so does all blame. The world does not say "he had good servants"; it says "he was a good artist". Which means strong instruments cost you nothing in credit and weak ones cost you everything in outcome. The leader's actual job is selection and testing: choose people who could outshine you, point them at the work, and let reversion do what it has always done. Your deputies' excellence is your excellence, at the only ledger that gets read.
Practice
- Hire the person who slightly frightens you; the fear is the signal you found an instrument, not an ornament.
- Test instruments before trusting immortal work to them, his sequence: selected AND tested; loyalty untested by pressure is a rumour.
- Announce your people's work upward by name and often; reversion gives you the credit anyway, and the naming buys you the next great instrument.
Use this when
- Use this at every step up; past a certain level your output IS your selections, and nothing else you do outweighs them.
- Use it on advisers, contractors, and partners in the second act; a great practice is mostly great instruments correctly chosen (maxim 15 built the cabinet).
Ignore this when
- Don't hide behind reversion when blame arrives; taking the glory and routing the blame downward breaks the entire covenant in one move.
- Don't collect stars without a score for them to play; instruments idle in a drawer rust into rivals.
A picture of it
Two film directors of equal gift take opposite bets. One staffs every department with obedient mediocrity; no argument on his sets, and it shows in every frame. The other hires a cinematographer known to fight him and an editor famous for cutting directors' favourite scenes, and loses several arguments a week, on purpose. Twenty years later the second man's name means something the first man's never will. Nobody at any awards night ever said "great crew". They said his name. Reversion did the rest.
Small instruments prove your smallness. The orchestra is the résumé.