To cultivate a culture of high agency, frame ultimate responsibility as a privilege, not a burden. By telling new hires 'everything's your fault now,' you immediately set the expectation that they have control and are empowered to solve problems. This approach attracts and retains individuals who see ownership as an opportunity to make an impact.

Instead of seeking a fully-formed, expensive owner-level thinker, a more practical strategy is to hire a top-tier project-level thinker showing potential. Granting them autonomy and responsibility can cultivate them into the owner you need.

Instead of providing a granular to-do list, hand your team member or contractor a desired outcome. This shifts them from being a task-doer you must manage to an owner who is responsible for the result, freeing you to focus on higher-level work.

When an employee presents a problem they should be able to solve, resist providing a solution. Instead, return ownership by asking, "What do you think you should do about that?" This simple question forces critical thinking and breaks the team's dependency on you for answers.

At Kayak, when a junior team member offered a valuable insight, they were immediately assigned ownership of the project. This tactic transforms meetings from passive status updates into active empowerment sessions, fostering a culture of ownership and accelerating talent development.

Structure your organization with employees at the top and managers at the bottom. This re-frames a leader's primary role as one of support—listening and removing obstacles to help their teams execute more effectively. It shifts the leader's focus from directing to enabling.

To reduce management overhead, give individuals or small teams a clear 'hill to take' with full operating control and a budget. This turns them into a CEO of their area, which is highly motivating and fosters autonomy, freeing up founders from day-to-day management.

When a manager assigns a task to an employee, others may still bypass them and go to the manager for answers. An empowering manager actively deflects these inquiries, explicitly stating, "You need to go to this person." This public reinforcement builds the employee's personal power and solidifies their ownership.

Shift ownership from manager to rep by creating "self-coaches." Instead of managers chasing reps for updates, schedule periodic reviews where the rep comes prepared with their results, analysis, and a go-forward plan. This empowers them to own their performance.