The Power of "No"

Employees who say no to the right things are a strong predictor of good execution.

The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.

—Warren Buffett

I’ve written a good deal about the need for CEOs to not play the firefighter.

Everyone wants a piece of the CEO’s time. There’s always a new mole to whack. So we must carefully guard the hours of our day and be sure we’re doing the highest-value things, the ones that only the CEO can do, including:

• setting the vision

• mapping out company goals

• aligning the entire organization

• thinking strategically—not reactively

• steering toward the desired future

The effective CEO thus says “no” to a lot of things.

But you’re not the only one who should be learning to say “no” to the inessential. Your employees should know how to do this too.

Imagine you have a new marketer at your company, Sarah. So far, she has impressed her peers with her insight and work ethic. This morning, Sarah’s got several requests in her inbox:

• from her boss, to start digging in on a new r…