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Timothy Firnstahl, restaurateur, faced rising costs, inefficient management, and a recession. Firnstahl got the answer to his problem from Mikhail Gorbachev: slash the centralized command and liberate the company. In doing so, he would also transfer virtually all power and responsibility to his line managers. And after five months of intensive study and planning, he accomplished what he set out to do. He fired most of his corporate staff, empowered his restaurant managers with "100% Power and Responsibility," and undertook a massive promotion campaign.

A customer satisfaction guarantee is meaningless if customers must jump through hoops whenever they complain. To satisfy them, it is necessary to make immediate amends--by giving employees both the obligation and the authority to honor a guarantee on their own and on the spot. In restaurants this may mean giving away drinks and food or picking up a check. Although this initially incurs high costs, each time something is given away a problem that can be fixed is identified. Finding and correcting the ultimate cause of each system failure leads to fewer complaints, higher sales, and lower costs.

Innumerable business experts urge executives of growing companies to help themselves and their organizations by delegating responsibility. However well meaning, the dispensers of such advice usually underestimate the difficulty entrepreneurs have in giving up their cherished roles. Entrepreneurs pride themselves on their skills and talents and thrive on being in all places at once. But as their organizations expand, they can better spend their time coaching and planning rather than doing. Otherwise, their staffs can never mature, and they themselves won't have time to chart the company's future.