The Empowerment Advantage: Why Great Leaders Build Teams That Lead Themselves

It’s hard to imagine a tougher first day in a new job. 

The uniform pressed. The shoes polished. The slow walk across the dock, down the gangway, onto cold steel. Not just any ship – a submarine. And not just any submarine, but the Santa Fe: the worst-performing vessel in the entire US Navy. 

Morale was low. Retention was terrible. Confidence in leadership had collapsed. 

And now, Commander David Marquet was stepping on board. 

Any leader taking charge of a failing team faces the same pressure: establish authority, show toughness, prove you know what you’re doing. For a submarine captain, the expectation was even heavier. Orders must be clear, sharp, immediate. 

But Marquet knew something others didn’t. He didn’t fully understand the Santa Fe’s complex systems. Giving orders he wasn’t confident in could be disastrous. 

So instead of trying to command his way into credibility, he did something radical. He gave control back to the crew. Decisions didn’t have to flow up the chain and back down again. Authority lived with the people closest to the action. 

The impact was extraordinary. Within a few years, the Santa Fe transformed from the worst to the best-performing submarine in the fleet. 

From Founders to Empowered Teams 

The same pattern plays out far beyond the military. 

When Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar started Atlassian in Sydney, they weren’t Silicon Valley billionaires. They were two university graduates with a belief that software teams needed better tools. 

But their deeper belief was in empowerment. They understood that innovation happens when you create an environment where anyone can contribute. 

As Farquhar put it: “Some of our best features didn’t come from top-down planning. They came from employees who dared to think differently.” 

Atlassian’s ShipIt Days – 24 hours where employees can work on any project they choose – have produced some of their most successful features. And their Team Anywhere policy, trusting employees to do their best work from wherever they choose, is empowerment at scale. 

This isn’t about perks. It’s about trust, ownership, and the conviction that empowered teams outperform controlled ones. 

Cochlear and the Courage to Collaborate 

When Professor Graeme Clark pioneered the world’s first multi-channel cochlear implant, he wasn’t the lone genius in a lab. He assembled a team of engineers, surgeons and researchers who believed in the mission as much as he did. 

One of the first engineers, Jim Patrick, became indispensable. Clark relied on Patrick’s technical skill to translate vision into function, while Patrick leaned on Clark’s medical insight to test and refine.  

Together they endured scepticism, funding hurdles, and outright ridicule. Some peers dismissed Clark as “Clark the Clown”. But the strength of their team – and the trust between them – kept the mission alive. 

The result? A device that has restored hearing for hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. 

The Leadership Shift: Build the Team 

Marquet. Atlassian. Cochlear. Different fields, yet the same principle: the best leaders don’t hoard control. They distribute it. They build teams capable of thinking, deciding, and acting without waiting for permission. 

This is the essence of Build the Team, one of the four domains of effective leadership. It’s not about charisma or command. It’s about creating the conditions where people thrive together. 

How to Empower Teams in Practice 

Empowerment is a choice leaders make daily. Here are four ways to put it into action: 

1. Set direction, not instructions Define the outcome clearly, then step back. Let people decide how to get there. 

2. Push authority to the edges Give decision-making power to those closest to the work. Trust their judgment and back them up. 

3. Create safe spaces for experimentation Encourage pilots, prototypes, and ShipIt-style sprints. Progress is achieved faster when failure is allowed. 

4. Invest in growth and recognition Celebrate contributions, share credit, and provide opportunities for development. Empowerment thrives on acknowledgement. 

The Empowerment Advantage 

In today’s world of complexity, uncertainty, and rapid change, no leader can have all the answers. Trying to command your way to success is a fast track to burnout – yours and your team’s. 

The real advantage comes from empowerment. From building teams that can think, adapt, and lead themselves. 

That’s not abdication. It’s leadership at its highest level. 

Great leaders don’t just steer the ship. They build a crew that can navigate without them.