The October 13 issue of Fortune magazine features incredible advice from two mega-firm founder/CEOs: Bill Marriott of the Marriott International hotel chain and Fred Smith of FedEx. You need to pick up a print copy to read the full articles, but I wanted to share a few especially valuable snippets.

Bill Marriott: Ask Your Staff for Input

It was December 1954, and my parents were entertaining Mamie and Ike Eisenhower at our Virginia farm. We had a friend there who was an avid hunter, and he put some pheasants in the field for Ike to shoot. When Eisenhower arrived, they said, “Mr. President, would you like to go out and shoot or stay in by the fire?” He turned to me, a 22-year-old home from the Navy, and said, “What do you think, Bill?” I thought, Here’s a world leader who brought the Allies to victory because he probably asked that question many times of the people he was dealing with. And I realized that he was successful because he knew the right questions to ask and he made people feel they were participating. So during my career I’ve always tried to get people to tell me what they thought. In the end, we didn’t go hunting. I said we should stay inside, and Eisenhower was delighted. I think he’d spent enough cold nights in his life.

Fred Smith: Know Your People’s Strengths, and Empower Them To Use Them

What I’ve always tried to do is to get people who have skills sets that are very different from my own – and to give them lots of authority, relying on them to run their part of the show. I think that’s been a strong suit for FedEx. Everybody’s got individual strengths and individual weaknesses. Knowing what kind of skills to put in place at what time is really the art – or some would call it the science – of what a chief executive does.

Notice any similarities between these two great leaders? If there’s a common thread, it’s that they both value and listen to the input of their team members. If you’re already doing this, great! If not, you may want to incorporate it into your management style, when appropriate.

What are your thoughts? Share them below!