I remember reading in a book one time about coaching football. There was a (probably apocryphal) story about a team playing. Game is tied, 60 seconds left, they have the ball on their own 20, and the starting quarterback gets injured for a few plays. The coach puts in a backup who has barely played. Coach just wants to get into overtime so the starter can get back in, so tells his backup, “Just run it into the line twice then punt it away.” First run, running back breaks for 50 yards. Second run, running back breaks for another 25. So from the other team’s 5-yard-line, the quarterback dutifully has the punter just rocket the ball into the end zone stands.

So yeah. Almost certainly apocryphal.

You can see the lesson though, about having your team or your employees just do what they are told, follow all the rules and processes and “the system”, and never deviate or show creativity. I vividly remember one time (and this story is NOT apocryphal) being at a rental car counter and being told my car was a minivan, and the person next to me getting a subcompact. That person was stressed because they had a family of five, meanwhile I’m stressed because I have to park in a tiny parking garage. But no matter how much the two of us begged and pleaded, the employee would not swap our cars. “I can’t,” they said. “The system won’t let me.”

The System. A dreaded beast that just does whatever it wants and we are all stuck at its mercy.

As a business leader, I get it. There are certain tasks or processes that you don’t want creativity, you need to have the rules followed to meet certain KPIs or strategic goals. Also, if you let employees do whatever they want I can guarantee you some bad decisions will get made. But on the other hand, as a business leader keep in mind that exceptions to the process and giving your team some leeway will help your organization in the long run.