Tech

Mark Zuckerberg shares one of his most controversial leadership principles

Mark Zuckerberg appearing at a web conference wearing a navy sweatshirt
Mark Zuckerberg. Samantha Burkardt/ Getty
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Mark Zuckerberg says one of his "most controversial" principles as a business leader is that he doesn't like delegating responsibility.

The Meta CEO discussed his management style on an episode of the "Morning Brew Daily" podcast released Friday.

"I think probably one of my most controversial leadership or management things is like I don't actually believe in delegating that much.

"I kind of think the way a founder should work is you should basically make as many decisions and get involved in as many things as you can," he said. "I mean you need to know where your limits are and where like you're just thrashing people because you're involved in something in a half-assed way and you don't have all the context, but I don't know. You need all these other awesome people because no matter how much time I put into all these things, there's still going to be so much stuff that I can't get to and we need awesome people who can do all the really important stuff that I'm not doing, but I don't know."

He continued: "That's something that I guess I've just gotten more confident in over time, is just sort of feeling like hey, yeah I can go deep on all this stuff and push it in a direction that I think, and yeah not everything is going to go well in the near term but you just learn, rinse, and repeat. Do good work over a long period of time."

Other aspects of Zuckerberg's approach to running Meta have been under the microscope in recent years amid multiple rounds of layoffs affecting more than 20,000 employees.

Zuckerberg attributed some of the earlier cuts to mistiming big investments, including metaverse technology, and needing to cut back after overhiring during the pandemic tech and e-commerce boom.

Last year, he proclaimed a "year of efficiency" in an attempt to make Meta leaner by cutting out some layers of middle management.

Zuckerberg had said during an employee Q&A around that time that he didn't want a "management structure that's just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work."

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Sarah Jackson
Sarah Jackson was a senior reporter at Business Insider who covers tech and trending business news, with a focus on the workplace. She has covered The Great Resignation, workplace trends, remote work and RTO, tech layoffs, the job search, and more. Before joining Business Insider in 2021, Sarah also wrote for places like Inc., NBC News, and The Today Show. She received her B.A. in journalism from NYU.Some of Sarah's top stories include:Workers are 'epiphany-quitting' their jobs after the pandemic forced them to rethink everything about their livesJob postings can reveal signs of trouble ahead with a potential employer or role. Here are the red flags that candidates should look for.The 'hushed hybrid' work schedule is the latest way employees are getting around a return to the officeNew York City employers are now required to list salary ranges in their job posts. Here's how that will affect candidates and companies.as-told-to: I do 'Bare Minimum Mondays' at work to help beat the 'Sunday scaries' and avoid burnout. It's completely changed my life and how I approach my job.