Richard Buchfink
@managersbox.bsky.social
Richard Buchfink is the founder of ManagersBox and an executive leader with more than four decades of experience. He writes about leadership, organizational systems, economics, public policy, and the choices shaping Canada’s future.
Being indispensable can feel like successful leadership.
But eventually people must develop their own judgment, responsibility must move outward, and systems must work without your constant involvement.
The goal isn’t permanent dependency.
Legacy begins where control ends.
#teamcanada #leadership
But eventually people must develop their own judgment, responsibility must move outward, and systems must work without your constant involvement.
The goal isn’t permanent dependency.
Legacy begins where control ends.
#teamcanada #leadership
September 16, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Being indispensable can feel like successful leadership.
But eventually people must develop their own judgment, responsibility must move outward, and systems must work without your constant involvement.
The goal isn’t permanent dependency.
Legacy begins where control ends.
#teamcanada #leadership
But eventually people must develop their own judgment, responsibility must move outward, and systems must work without your constant involvement.
The goal isn’t permanent dependency.
Legacy begins where control ends.
#teamcanada #leadership
Trust usually requires someone to go first.
Give someone responsibility. Admit the mistake. Raise the difficult concern. Have the conversation you’d rather avoid.
Trust still has to be earned afterward.
But trust often begins with an act of courage.
#elbowsup
Give someone responsibility. Admit the mistake. Raise the difficult concern. Have the conversation you’d rather avoid.
Trust still has to be earned afterward.
But trust often begins with an act of courage.
#elbowsup
September 15, 2026 at 2:49 PM
Trust usually requires someone to go first.
Give someone responsibility. Admit the mistake. Raise the difficult concern. Have the conversation you’d rather avoid.
Trust still has to be earned afterward.
But trust often begins with an act of courage.
#elbowsup
Give someone responsibility. Admit the mistake. Raise the difficult concern. Have the conversation you’d rather avoid.
Trust still has to be earned afterward.
But trust often begins with an act of courage.
#elbowsup
I have known Marg Tokar for the better part of a year and a half. Somewhere along the way, after following what she was doing and having a few conversations, I signed up through the AB Resistance website.
wildcardcanuck.substack.com/p/marg-tokar...
wildcardcanuck.substack.com/p/marg-tokar...
Marg Tokar and the Persistence of Citizen Democracy
I have known Marg Tokar for the better part of a year and a half.
wildcardcanuck.substack.com
September 15, 2026 at 3:13 AM
I have known Marg Tokar for the better part of a year and a half. Somewhere along the way, after following what she was doing and having a few conversations, I signed up through the AB Resistance website.
wildcardcanuck.substack.com/p/marg-tokar...
wildcardcanuck.substack.com/p/marg-tokar...
Experience teaches you something beyond how to solve problems: which ones are actually yours to solve.
Some need intervention. Others need delegation—or simply room for someone else to exercise judgment.
Not every problem deserves the same amount of leadership.
#elbowsup
Some need intervention. Others need delegation—or simply room for someone else to exercise judgment.
Not every problem deserves the same amount of leadership.
#elbowsup
September 14, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Experience teaches you something beyond how to solve problems: which ones are actually yours to solve.
Some need intervention. Others need delegation—or simply room for someone else to exercise judgment.
Not every problem deserves the same amount of leadership.
#elbowsup
Some need intervention. Others need delegation—or simply room for someone else to exercise judgment.
Not every problem deserves the same amount of leadership.
#elbowsup
Resilience isn’t pretending setbacks don’t matter.
It’s absorbing them, learning, adjusting and remaining steady enough to decide what comes next.
It rarely looks dramatic while you’re doing it.
Resilience is leadership’s quiet strength.
#elbowsup
It’s absorbing them, learning, adjusting and remaining steady enough to decide what comes next.
It rarely looks dramatic while you’re doing it.
Resilience is leadership’s quiet strength.
#elbowsup
September 13, 2026 at 1:53 PM
Resilience isn’t pretending setbacks don’t matter.
It’s absorbing them, learning, adjusting and remaining steady enough to decide what comes next.
It rarely looks dramatic while you’re doing it.
Resilience is leadership’s quiet strength.
#elbowsup
It’s absorbing them, learning, adjusting and remaining steady enough to decide what comes next.
It rarely looks dramatic while you’re doing it.
Resilience is leadership’s quiet strength.
#elbowsup
Several people can contribute to a result. Tasks can be divided across an entire team.
But if nobody knows who owns the final outcome, accountability becomes ambiguous.
Answer that question before the work begins—not after something goes wrong.
#teamcanadastrong
But if nobody knows who owns the final outcome, accountability becomes ambiguous.
Answer that question before the work begins—not after something goes wrong.
#teamcanadastrong
September 12, 2026 at 1:33 PM
Several people can contribute to a result. Tasks can be divided across an entire team.
But if nobody knows who owns the final outcome, accountability becomes ambiguous.
Answer that question before the work begins—not after something goes wrong.
#teamcanadastrong
But if nobody knows who owns the final outcome, accountability becomes ambiguous.
Answer that question before the work begins—not after something goes wrong.
#teamcanadastrong
September 12, 2026 at 5:00 AM
Failure isn’t automatically valuable.
The value comes from understanding what happened well enough to change the next decision.
Getting something wrong doesn’t make us more experienced. Understanding why we got it wrong does.
A setback becomes valuable when we learn from it.
#elbowsup
The value comes from understanding what happened well enough to change the next decision.
Getting something wrong doesn’t make us more experienced. Understanding why we got it wrong does.
A setback becomes valuable when we learn from it.
#elbowsup
September 11, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Failure isn’t automatically valuable.
The value comes from understanding what happened well enough to change the next decision.
Getting something wrong doesn’t make us more experienced. Understanding why we got it wrong does.
A setback becomes valuable when we learn from it.
#elbowsup
The value comes from understanding what happened well enough to change the next decision.
Getting something wrong doesn’t make us more experienced. Understanding why we got it wrong does.
A setback becomes valuable when we learn from it.
#elbowsup
Delegation isn’t just transferring work.
If someone owns the outcome but still needs your approval for every meaningful decision, responsibility has moved while authority hasn’t.
Set the boundaries. Then give people room to exercise judgment.
#teamcanadastrong
If someone owns the outcome but still needs your approval for every meaningful decision, responsibility has moved while authority hasn’t.
Set the boundaries. Then give people room to exercise judgment.
#teamcanadastrong
September 10, 2026 at 2:04 PM
Delegation isn’t just transferring work.
If someone owns the outcome but still needs your approval for every meaningful decision, responsibility has moved while authority hasn’t.
Set the boundaries. Then give people room to exercise judgment.
#teamcanadastrong
If someone owns the outcome but still needs your approval for every meaningful decision, responsibility has moved while authority hasn’t.
Set the boundaries. Then give people room to exercise judgment.
#teamcanadastrong
Experience teaches us what works. Comfort can convince us it will always work.
Growth doesn’t require abandoning everything familiar. Sometimes it simply requires being willing to become a learner again.
Growth often begins where comfort ends.
#elbowsup
Growth doesn’t require abandoning everything familiar. Sometimes it simply requires being willing to become a learner again.
Growth often begins where comfort ends.
#elbowsup
September 9, 2026 at 3:25 PM
Experience teaches us what works. Comfort can convince us it will always work.
Growth doesn’t require abandoning everything familiar. Sometimes it simply requires being willing to become a learner again.
Growth often begins where comfort ends.
#elbowsup
Growth doesn’t require abandoning everything familiar. Sometimes it simply requires being willing to become a learner again.
Growth often begins where comfort ends.
#elbowsup
A selling principle I’ve used for decades applies equally well to management: give people the information they need to make a good decision—not everything you know.
More information isn’t always more clarity.
#elbowsup
Good decisions require enough information, not all of it.
More information isn’t always more clarity.
#elbowsup
Good decisions require enough information, not all of it.
September 8, 2026 at 1:37 PM
A selling principle I’ve used for decades applies equally well to management: give people the information they need to make a good decision—not everything you know.
More information isn’t always more clarity.
#elbowsup
Good decisions require enough information, not all of it.
More information isn’t always more clarity.
#elbowsup
Good decisions require enough information, not all of it.
My day wrapped up here x.com/themanagersb...
Richard B🇨🇦 (@TheManagersBox) on X
A good way to wrap up the day: this evening I attended a Liberal event at Haweli Restaurant in Edmonton South Common, held in support of the Edmonton Gateway riding.
Our special guest was Sukh Dhaliw...
x.com
September 8, 2026 at 4:32 AM
My day wrapped up here x.com/themanagersb...
Almost anything could happen. That doesn’t make every possibility equally useful in making a decision.
Good judgment asks: How probable is it—and what happens if we’re wrong?
Everything is theoretically possible; whether it’s probable is what makes things interesting. #teamcanadastrong
Good judgment asks: How probable is it—and what happens if we’re wrong?
Everything is theoretically possible; whether it’s probable is what makes things interesting. #teamcanadastrong
September 7, 2026 at 2:08 PM
Almost anything could happen. That doesn’t make every possibility equally useful in making a decision.
Good judgment asks: How probable is it—and what happens if we’re wrong?
Everything is theoretically possible; whether it’s probable is what makes things interesting. #teamcanadastrong
Good judgment asks: How probable is it—and what happens if we’re wrong?
Everything is theoretically possible; whether it’s probable is what makes things interesting. #teamcanadastrong
A standard becomes more than a rule when people protect it without being reminded.
That’s when “how management wants it done” becomes simply “how we do things here.”
Standards become culture when nobody has to enforce them.
That’s when “how management wants it done” becomes simply “how we do things here.”
Standards become culture when nobody has to enforce them.
September 6, 2026 at 2:31 PM
A standard becomes more than a rule when people protect it without being reminded.
That’s when “how management wants it done” becomes simply “how we do things here.”
Standards become culture when nobody has to enforce them.
That’s when “how management wants it done” becomes simply “how we do things here.”
Standards become culture when nobody has to enforce them.
A promotion can give someone authority. It cannot automatically give them credibility, judgment or trust.
Those are earned through repeated behaviour.
Leadership is built through presence, not promotion.
#elbowsup
Those are earned through repeated behaviour.
Leadership is built through presence, not promotion.
#elbowsup
September 5, 2026 at 1:33 PM
A promotion can give someone authority. It cannot automatically give them credibility, judgment or trust.
Those are earned through repeated behaviour.
Leadership is built through presence, not promotion.
#elbowsup
Those are earned through repeated behaviour.
Leadership is built through presence, not promotion.
#elbowsup
This is an excellent site regarding the referendum.
From the Dignity Forum
The site has 12 different language modules.
abreferendum.dignityforum.org
From the Dignity Forum
The site has 12 different language modules.
abreferendum.dignityforum.org
The 2026 Alberta Referendum: the facts about all 10 questions — Dignity Forum
Alberta’s 2026 referendum asks voters whether temporary residents should face higher costs — or reduced access — for healthcare and education systems. Explore the facts before you vote on October 19.
abreferendum.dignityforum.org
September 4, 2026 at 11:13 PM
This is an excellent site regarding the referendum.
From the Dignity Forum
The site has 12 different language modules.
abreferendum.dignityforum.org
From the Dignity Forum
The site has 12 different language modules.
abreferendum.dignityforum.org
Growth isn’t always about adding something.
Sometimes the better question isn’t “What should we do next?” but “What are we holding onto that’s preventing it?”
Make space for what comes next.
#elbowsup
Sometimes the better question isn’t “What should we do next?” but “What are we holding onto that’s preventing it?”
Make space for what comes next.
#elbowsup
September 4, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Growth isn’t always about adding something.
Sometimes the better question isn’t “What should we do next?” but “What are we holding onto that’s preventing it?”
Make space for what comes next.
#elbowsup
Sometimes the better question isn’t “What should we do next?” but “What are we holding onto that’s preventing it?”
Make space for what comes next.
#elbowsup
September 4, 2026 at 4:13 AM
People eventually judge our priorities by what they see us doing, not simply by what they hear us saying.
Leadership doesn’t require hovering. It requires being connected enough to understand the work.
Visibility creates credibility words alone cannot.
#elbowsup
Leadership doesn’t require hovering. It requires being connected enough to understand the work.
Visibility creates credibility words alone cannot.
#elbowsup
September 3, 2026 at 1:55 PM
People eventually judge our priorities by what they see us doing, not simply by what they hear us saying.
Leadership doesn’t require hovering. It requires being connected enough to understand the work.
Visibility creates credibility words alone cannot.
#elbowsup
Leadership doesn’t require hovering. It requires being connected enough to understand the work.
Visibility creates credibility words alone cannot.
#elbowsup