Finding out "the truth about their organisations" should the first priority of business leaders, according to former Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy.
People Management reports the ex-CEO highlighted nine 'management lessons' from his time as leader of the supermarket giant between 1997 - 2011.
Leahy - who was speaking at Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Annual Conference and Exhibition - cited tough times for Tesco in the 1990s in the face of rising brands like Sainsbury's.
"If you don't know the truth, if you can't see yourself as others see you, then you are condemned before you start - because you don't know where you're starting from," claimed the former leader.
In addition, he believes that leaders should spend as much time visiting offices and stores in order to see the influence of management decision on the front line.
He added: "If you pay close attention to the detail of your organisation, you then don't have to bother your managers all the time and run them half mad, because you know yourself what's going on."
Leahy is an incredible successful leader who managed to turn Tesco into "the UK's largest retailer", claims internationalsupermarketnews.com. The former CEO turned Tesco's annual pre-tax profits from less than £1 billion to over £3.5 billion.
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