Hector Ruiz, CEO of AMD, had another really great piece of advice. "A good leader knows he is doing a good job when he knows with certainty that he can say yes to anything his staff asks, and feel totally confident that they will do the right thing."

So the point is, you find people of integrity, people who have good skills, and people who are so good at what they do that you can allow them to do what they do. They know the vision so well, and they know you so well, that they accomplish what you would accomplish.

Ruiz says that another piece of advice he received at Texas Instruments was that the worst thing that could happen to him if he made a poor decision was that he would be fired. But the way it was presented to him, he realized that getting fired would not be the end of the world, and that he shouldn't be afraid of making mistakes.

BRAIN STORM!

Learning to trust your employees is a huge leap of faith sometimes. Yet, to move from small business owner or solopreneur, whose income is often limited to the number of hours in a day, to big business owner, whose income is unlimited because of the increasing staff he or she commands, there has to be a definite amount of trust invested in the employees or partners.


• Have you searched out staff members who truly fit your company's mold? Do they have the same basic character and quality as you, so they can represent you even when you are not around?



• Have you spent sufficient time with your staff so that they know you well enough to represent you? Could you have a meal together, work on a project together, or simply train them on what is most important to you and how you would do things yourself?



• Consider creating a document, or even an audio presentation, that tells your staff members about who you are, what you believe, and what is important to you, both personally and professionally. Communication is a key here.



• Hiring people who are good at what they do - so good that you don't have to micromanage - can truly relieve a tremendous amount of stress from you. To test their strengths and weaknesses, start them out as a partner with you on a project, checking their progress along the way. You don't have to hand over large projects immediately - let them earn your trust. But once you have trained them and mentored them, let them do what you hired them to do.



• FEAR - fear of making a mistake, of failing, of being fired. It can actually squelch good decision making because of the pressure it puts on you. Too often we have tunnel vision, and think that if something bad happens today, that it will ruin our future. But sometimes, honestly, getting fired is the best thing that can happen to you, especially if you are staying there out of fear of the unknown instead of because you love your job. You get pushed out of the nest, and although it's scary, you may find yourself in a place of great satisfaction, possibly even starting your own business. What are you afraid of that makes you pull back from certain decisions? Where are you timid instead of agressive out of fear of failure? At one company we profiled, the people were actually rewarded for finding and admitting the flaws in their plans and products. You learn by mistakes, and good companies will allow such mistakes so that you can make wiser decisions.

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Donnie Deutsch, the host of CNBC's The Big Idea, says that if you love something, the money will come. His business was handed to him by his father, and the first time around, Donnie was not ready to take on the responsibility. He was young and partying, and he didn't like what he was doing. Basically, his father said, "Get out of here - you don't love what you do. I DO love what I do."
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This is the 3rd installment in our series on the best advice received (and applied) by top entrepreneurs, from Fortune's May 21st issue.

Today we start with Rick Warren, who shares some rather shockingly honest perceptions, to Peter Drucker with life changing insights, and the CEO of Jet Blue on the importance - no, the mandaratory necessity - of balancing your family with your work.

I found Rick Warren's advice very interesting and very startling, although I think very accurate. He says that you definitely need mentors and models. Models are "the people you want to emulate." However, he says that the models need to be dead, because some people can start their lives off well, but end up rather tragically. This is not only a huge disappointment later on, but can be quite devestating.

He has sat at the feet of Peter Drucker for a long time, and one of the things that has been drilled into him is: "There is a difference between effectiveness and efficiency.
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