See for yourself

One of Rudy Giuliani's principles of leadership is to "see it for yourself." I always try to go to the scene of the crime. In our business that usually means seeing the code, or trying the program for myself. Now that I work in manufacturing company, it sometimes means visiting the production line.

You gain valuable insight when you do this. I don't know how many times I've found obvious bugs in a program that was "done." Or realized how skilled and hard working people really are behind the scenes. I don't believe you know what you're talking about if you don't see it for yourself--especially when you've got other people doing the real work and you're just a manager.

As I hear about this Walter Reed thing in the news, I kept thinking, "here's a case of leaders who haven't seen the scene for themselves--otherwise they wouldn't let it get so bad." But I guess something else is wrong, since a quick search with Google shows Bush's visit to Walter Reed just a few months ago.