Eric's site is down right now (presumably by site load), the advice is simply:
"every now and then I’m going to come into your office and ask you, “What are you working on that I don’t know about?” You should always have something to tell me."
I feel like you have to have a pretty good boss for this to be truly applicable. I'm not sure I've ever been in a position where I've had time for side projects, let alone had a boss that would have rewarded that time spent.
It's definitely a balance, but I really relate to the advice and have always made time for researching and doing a little experimentation with some ideas that may or may not ever go anywhere. If I get to a point where I think they should go somewhere, I bring it up and see if we can get work scheduled, which may or may not happen. The tough part is knowing when to stop independent experimentation and start getting buy-in, and letting things go (at least for awhile) if you can't.
Yeah, this is good advice from a really good boss. I would love to work under that person. However, if I were the boss's boss, I'd be skeptical and reluctant to say that. Essentially, the boss is mis-allocating time resources and therefore money, in a very strict sense.
Honestly, if your employees are doing side projects that may or may not help the company, then you have very good hiring managers and 'free' R&D built into every division. I believe Google recently just stopped this process, a shame as it is what likely has made them so agile. Correct me if I am wrong.
However, when the bean counters come in, all that evaporates in the race for profits. Typically this happens a few years after an IPO, when a bad quarter is looming and numbers have to be made.
Still, good advice! The followup is: 'And when I come into your office and ask you to stop doing the things I don't know about, send me your resume for polishing and a list of contacts you would like me to talk to.'
I read it as the manager expects the employee to always be engaged with something, researching, trying new stuff, etc... not just waiting for orders to come from up above. I think it's good advice.
"What are you working on that I don’t know about? On your free time - because I want a cut of that. On the off chance that it will be useful to the corporation."
"every now and then I’m going to come into your office and ask you, “What are you working on that I don’t know about?” You should always have something to tell me."