Dr. No #48 – If your team always runs to you... that’s not leadership, that’s babysitting.

“Don’t tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”
— General George S. Patton

Hey lawyer,

You hired smart people. Now you’re stuck solving their problems.

Again.

This week, let’s talk about how to stop being the answer machine—without sounding like a jerk.

1. Food for Thought

What if your to-do list is full of problems that should never have reached your desk in the first place?
Support doesn’t mean solving. Sometimes, the best help you can give is a well-aimed question and a 30-second pause.

2. Book Insight (from HBR) – Stop Solving Your Team’s Problems for Them by Elizabeth Lotardo

The moment your team starts using you as a human Google search, something’s gone sideways.

Great leaders don't eliminate friction for their teams. They teach them how to handle it.

Here are five smart questions to coach your team into solving problems on their own (without being passive-aggressive):

• “What have you tried?”
  Trains them to think before they escalate.
  GC translation: Don’t bring me a fire if you haven’t tried water.

• “What—or who—is getting in the way?”
  Helps diagnose blockers you can remove—without owning the whole mess.
  GC tip: Often, it’s a broken process, not a broken person.

• “What support do you need?”
  Opens doors beyond you.
  Your job isn’t to be the solution. It’s to make sure they find one.

• “If you were in my seat, what would you do?”
  Forces them to consider trade-offs, priorities, and context.
  Welcome to the GC simulator. Think like a grown-up.

• “Is there anything else I should know?”
  Keeps you informed without getting dragged into the weeds.
  Awareness ≠ ownership.

This is how you go from Chief Firefighter to Team Architect.

3. Mental Model – The Shirky Principle

"Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution."

Translation?
If you keep solving their problems, they’ll keep bringing them to you—forever.

Want your team to level up?
Step back. Let them struggle.
Solve the system, not the symptoms.

4. AI Booster – Inkr

Transcribe anything—fast, accurate, seamless.
Record a tricky client call or a sensitive team convo, then let AI pull out the insights and action points.

No more “Wait, what did they say?” moments.

Perfect for:

• Sensitive negotiations

• HR conversations

• Internal investigations (without typing like a courtroom stenographer)

Explore Inkr here

5. Quote to Reflect

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”
— Theodore Roosevelt

P.S.
Got a compliance headache?
A harassment investigation too sensitive to front yourself?
Need someone to tackle a tension-filled project with a fresh set of eyes?

That’s why Ámbar exists.
We give GCs on-demand access to elite lawyers—to handle:

• Spiky, high-stakes projects

• Hyper-specialized work

• Internal tension without adding friction

• Strategic support when your team is stretched

Get calm, smart, senior support without long-term commitments.
Book a call with the Ámbar team

See you next week,
Dr. No