The timing then was appropriate, and perhaps providential, for my starting in tonight on the book "First, break all the rules - What the world's greatest managers do differently". In the introduction, an interview with a very successful restaurant manager is recounted in which he shares a few helpful management tips he has picked up during his 15-year career. All of the tips were insightful; one struck a particular chord...
"And especially important: Never pass the buck. Never say, 'I think this is a crazy idea, but corporate insists.' Passing the buck may make your little world easy, but the organism as a whole, sorry, the organization as a whole, will be weakened. So in the long run, you are actually making your life worse."
I can't help but ask... What does it mean, "pass the buck"? Maybe I don't get it because it's late, but maybe I really want to know because you didn't explain what that means for "pawns" like me. Well, I don't really think I'm a pawn. Perhaps you meant for rooks and knights to understand what you meant because you were communicating to them.
ReplyDeleteHi Erin, thanks for asking. There is pretty good context for the phrase here (I certainly learned found the history interesting): http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/pass-the-buck.html
ReplyDeleteI think the definition given is the one being used in this example: To evade responsibility by passing it on to someone else.