The first of these is the delegation of high levels of responsibility for results. They pick the right people, match them to the right jobs, achieve mutual clarity on the desired results, and then they get out of the way and leave the individual with maximum freedom to perform.

Lao-Tzu, the great Chinese philosopher, wrote, "A leader is best when people barely know he exists . . . when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, 'We did this ourselves.'"

In a recent study, thousands of people were asked to describe their best bosses. Over and over, the respondents said things like, "I hardly saw him, "He left me alone," or "He gave me complete freedom to do the job."

It is liberating and empowering to know that you've been entrusted with a major responsibility and that you've been given the freedom to fulfill it. When the right person is matched with the right job, the conditions for exceptional performance are created.