Ron Howard’s ‘six of one’ rule

What is the X factor in filmmaker Ron Howard’s approach to leadership?

“I have what I call a ‘six of one’ rule which is, if the person who is executing — a cinematographer, an actor, a composer — if they have an idea and it's different from my idea, but it still achieves the objective and doesn’t derail what we’re doing, I go with their idea.”

“My observation over the years has been, if you let the artist who you're guiding apply that choice that they intuitively understand well enough to make the suggestion, there's an X factor in that. It's worth a take to see what their idea does to the scene, to see if it’s worth it.”

“And sometimes after seeing it the answer is ‘no that doesn't work.’ And that’s okay too, because when people begin to trust that I'm actually happy to say yes to their idea, they're also then comfortable with my saying no to an idea.”