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Key Takeaways A simple shift from solving to questioning restores ownership and accelerates growth.
Resisting the urge to intervene can transform capable teams into self-sufficient problem solvers.
In the early stages of my leadership career, especially in tech-driven environments, I thrived on the adrenaline of solving problems under pressure. It felt heroic. I was the person holding everything together when things started to fall apart. Every time I stepped in to resolve a crisis, it validated my presence and reinforced the team’s reliance on me.
At the time, I didn’t realize that what I believed was leadership was actually a form of control, disguised as competence.
When a success revealed my blind spot
One game day with the Clippers, we experienced a major systems failure affecting premium suite access. Using what I now call Binary Troubleshooting — a method that tests extremes rather than incrementally guessing — I diagnosed the issue and implemented a fix before halftime. I walked back to my seat, convinced I had pulled off another clutch win. Later, one of my top engineers calmly said, “You know I could have figured that out, right?”
Her tone wasn’t frustrated — it was measured. The real damage wasn’t the fix itself. It was that I had communicated I didn’t trust her to solve it herself. In the weeks that followed, her curiosity faded, and she stopped raising her hand in meetings. I hadn’t just taken over a task — I had taken away her opportunity to grow.
Why solving problems can sabotage growth
I saw the same pattern at United Talent Agency. We were rolling out a new analytics platform, and adoption was slow. My instinct was to step in, translate between technical and creative teams, smooth friction, and accelerate progress. At first, it felt productive. Things moved faster when I was involved.
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