Let me challenge you to think differently about this topic: organizational power. This may be hard to swallow, but bear with me. This is directed at the managers, not the boss, but Boss, listen — this will require your agreement and support of the concept; it won’t work unless you believe it, too. Now, managers, here’s the heresy I want you to accept: you get your power from those below you more than from those above you. The boss may bestow authority and title upon you, but you depend on those below you to make your authority effective and produce results of value to the organization.

If your company is mission-oriented and all employees buy into and take personal ownership of their responsibility to maintain and improve quality — and share the vision that guides the company — you have little need of overt management, much less micromanagement. You can trust your people to take care of things. But there are some critical ingredients in making it work:

• Respect people’s ability, professionalism and contribution completely. Genuinely care about them. Don’t second-guess them.

• Give them the authority to accomplish their responsibilities — and make them accountable for results. Establish good metrics.

• Give them all the information they need to understand the mission and the business: the why more than the how; keep information flowing, so no one is ever in the dark about anything. Shortcircuit any potential upcoming problems.

• Tell them often and sincerely how much you appreciate them.

• And then get out of their way and let them work.

Andy Warhol said everybody gets 15 minutes of fame. There’s a guy named Rob Frankel, a brand-management expert in Encino, Calif., who has beaten that limit in a very interesting way: he passes out phone cards worth 15 minutes as his business cards. On the back is a toll-free number to call for your 15 minutes of phone time — and Frankel’s 15 minutes of fame as your benefactor.

This clever gimmick got me thinking about another one I saw in New Glarus, a Swiss-themed village in southern Wisconsin. The Glarner Stube restaurant has standard-size business cards that unfold to display the entire menu. Prices are left off — that saves space, places the emphasis on the cuisine and the quality of the product and keeps the cards from becoming useless with every price change.

Maybe one of these ideas will fit into your marketing plan.