| | SEPTEMBER 20169CIOReviewHowever, while you can and should still have the final say in matters pertaining to your business, you must also be honest and acknowledge that no one person has all of the answers.As such, you must rely on your most important asset­employees­to help you make the most informed and beneficial decisions. Employees understand customers, partners, products, and markets in general. They have deep knowledge to go along with their creativity and passion. You must always be willing to tap into all of these attributes.Being a leader in an open organization, then, means making connections: It involves doing the work of linking people both to each other and to some larger, shared picture. It's helping people understand how they can contribute to a collective effort in meaningful ways. Open leaders are honest about the problems they face, the worries they carry, and the limits they possess--because, in the end, the problems leaders face are the problems everyone faces. Shared knowledge is power. Let's face it: as much as we have nostalgia for the past, we're no longer living in a top-down business environment. The hierarchical, title-driven ways of old are crumbling in favor of a meritocratic approach that awards those who can contribute to the overall success of the company, regardless of whether they sit in an office or cubicle. Today, all employees, regardless of title or position, are demanding to have their voices heard. It may not be through traditional means of communication. It may be through blogs, social media, or other forms of communication. But their opinions are getting out there, and they want those opinions to be heard and considered by their managers.It's not just employees, either; customers and partners are more willing than ever to collaborate and offer valuable feedback. At a company like Red Hat, this is nothing new­we've always followed the open source software model of collaboration and worked hand-in-hand with our customers and partners to deliver the products they need. This approach has worked very well for us.For traditional organizations, however, this might be an entirely new concept. "Wait," you might say, "you're expecting us to have our customers contribute to our business practices and product development? Isn't that what they pay us to do?"Yes­it is. But they also pay to have products delivered that suit their needs. What better way to deliver those products than to have them actively participate in their product's development? Doing so will allow you to become more in-tune with what your audience needs, helping shorten sales cycles and develop more meaningful relationships­the essence of a lean organization that's built for the future.I'm convinced that an open approach is really the only way to build for that future. It'll help you deliver unprecedented satisfaction to everyone that's important to your business's success. In turn, they will help feed that success. It's an approach that I've seen work tremendously over the years­ever since that first cup of coffee. You must rely on your most important asset­employees­to help you make the most informed and beneficial decisions
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