Being Open excecutive power

Rosabeth Moss Kanter tells a great story about an executive at a fabric manufacturer who took over a group and demonstrated that he was open to any new ideas. Someone from the production line approached the executive and, in a heavy foreign accent, said he had an idea that might solve a problem that had long bedeviled the company: An important type of fiber would sometimes snap, causing millions of dollars of production delays each year. The executive promised to try the idea, and it worked.
“That was a great idea,” the executive told the worker. “How long have you had this idea?”
“Thirty-two years,” the worker replied.

Source: Let’s Get Persian by Paul B. Carroll and Chunka Mui | ChangeThis, October 2008