My new hero in the world is becoming billionaire Sam Zell, who is using a speaking tour of the Tribune Co. to explain the virtues of letting employees take the wheel instead of corporate know-it-all's.

This line earned cheers from an audience of employees at Newsday: "I don't think that this company has been run particularly well in the past."

Zell went on to explain the crux of Tribune's downfall this way:

"I don't think it's been run very well because, I think, philosophically there is just a basic issue that we are attempting to address and attempting to find out the answer to. This company is run as though it were a media conglomerate. I think the question is: Is it a media conglomerate or is it a conglomerate of media companies? And that really addresses this whole question of whether we need a bottom-up management operation or a top-down management operation."

During another one of these speeches at the Hartford Courant, Zell made it clear that top-down management hasn't worked for the Tribune's Web strategy either.

Tribune must find ways to more aggressively pursue sales and "attack the Internet area much better, in a much more sophisticated fashion than what we've done to date." Referring to Tribune's companywide website platform, he said, "It sucks."

Zell's theory supports what I said about the Tribune's uniform design when it first launched. In "Attack of the clones," I reminded everyone that Knight-Ridder's demise was preceded by a companywide approach to Web design. Zell understands that what works in one market doesn't automatically work everywhere else.

Instead, the Tribune should dole out expectations for revenue and provide the support that its media companies request to meet those goals. Mandates such as the Tribune's companywide design stop each newspaper from creating a product that epitomizes their workers, who actually live in the places they serve.

Facing rough financial times, big executives react instinctively by taking more control over products. But the paradox of leadership here is that the right move is actually empowering the workers to take more ownership in big and small ways. Zell pushed that point during his visit to The Morning Call.

"I don't really look at you guys as employees, I look at you as partners. And I plan to win, and I want you guys to win with me."