Magical oracles and hand axes: lessons for building self‐confidence and employee ownership

From ancient times, the need for control and the ability to gain it by developing tools, language and ideas has distinguished the human species. More recently, empowerment has been used as a way of ensuring members of an organization have sufficient control. This not only boosts trust and morale but enables people to take risks and respond to competitive challenges from every level of the organization. Essential measures for successful empowerment include passing on information on all aspects of the organization’s performance, providing training and using these to encourage either individual leadership or collective leadership as part of a team. Empowerment will not work unless we address the human need for self‐control.