Asked how he gauges his team’s capacity in a global, remote company, Joe gives a blunt answer: “I don’t and I can’t.” Instead of trying to measure how much anyone can handle, he makes it safe — and expected — for people to say no, then simply asks for whatever he wants and trusts that people at capacity will decline. In AOA, every email even has to end with a request, so anyone can delegate to anyone, and saying no becomes normal.
“Make it really safe for everybody to be able to say no. Make it an expectation that people say no.”
For people from cultures where saying no to authority is taboo, he makes the rule explicit: it’s acceptable to say yes and later flag that you won’t make it; it’s acceptable to commit and deliver. What’s not acceptable is committing, failing, and sweeping it under the rug.
“Nobody wants to work with a team where handoffs aren’t handoffs. They’re drops.”
This is the difference between management and trust. Management is the workaround you need when there’s no trust. By curating what you will and won’t accept — and making no a real option — trust increases, and the machinery built to compensate for missing trust can fall away.
Related Concepts
- Objections create buy-in and better solutions
- Accountability is curiosity, not punishment
- Safety enables productive conflict rather than preventing it
- The leader’s job is not to take care of everyone
- Schedule time for the hard conversations you’re avoiding
- Hearing objections before deciding — even if you decide the same thing — changes everything
- Every ‘no’ is new information that creates clarity
- Opening your heart to the ‘no’ creates better outcomes