Re: Drafts and the larger leadership picture.
He/She who signs the checks makes the rules. Been that way since just about the
time apes grew thumbs.
This is an oversimplification with limit usefullness.
In addition to the legal and market limits you point out,one of the hardest things for managers and executives to learn is that, even if you have the power, it's not always a good idea to use it. If they issue an order that can't be enforced or seems ridiculous, such as ordering that nobody chew gum in the office (which, believe it or not,is a real life example), then they simply diminish their authority. Even more importantly, even if they can enforce an order or have the authority to act, doing something without buy-in from employees can mean that they lose in the act of winning - that is, what they want is done, but morale, goodwill, and support may be undermined in general.
This is why the manager in the post that started this thread is ill-advised. In theory, the manager had every right to take a draft from the writer's desk without asking. But, in practise, the loss of good will caused by acting in this high-handed way makes the act stupid.
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