Build an Easy Path to the Top

No, we're not saying to let anybody get to the top of your organization. Make it easy for the right people -- that is, people who fit your company's values to a T -- to get to the top of your company. Meanwhile, don't "laz-i-fy" people at the top. When you do this, you build a culture that allows the best individuals to succeed. Take it for Abraham Lincoln: Initially after the Civil War, American citizens paid 3% tax on income. To promote upward mobility, Lincoln enacted progressive taxation. "The promise of upward mobility was key both to the nation's economic growth and to its social stability. " -Goldman Sachs's Robert D. Hormats The beautiful concept: don't allow people at the top to be complacent, while helping unrecognized individuals at the lower rung to shine -- if they're capable. An organization that strives toward full democratization will succeed in the 21st century.

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