Hire people smarter than you!

This is a message for you bosses out there.  Hire people smarter than you!

Now I don't mean to give everyone an IQ test and only hire those over your number, that's just silly and rather arbitrary anyway.  What I'm getting at is that people have chosen careers for a reason.  I'm pretty sure that I'm a better coder than my boss is.  That said, I know he's much better at prioritizing resources, organizing personnel, risk assessment, and a host of other things that I'm just practiced at.

I was hired because I can code.  If you're hiring someone who sculpts ice, more than likely you're hiring someone better at sculpting ice than you are.  That should apply to every aspect of employment.  Find the best person for the job and hire him.  Odds are he's better at that job than you would be and that's exactly why you want him doing it: so you can have time to focus more on your own job and get a better product than you could have made on your own at the same time.

Last thought:  Remember why you hired that person.  Don't micromanage him.  If you got the right guy (or girl), then let them go, just point them in the right direction and get out of their way.  Sometimes they might need a reminder not to stray a bit, but in general the more freedom you give a good employee, the better the results.