Mike Pride’s essay in the current issue of CJR, which one apparently can’t get online, is an excellent read. After nearly 30 years as the Concord Monitor’s editor, Pride spent his final year before retirement as a reporter. Or, as he puts it, “my job became to provide content.” If only every editor would do the same, even for just a week or a few days every couple of years, and not just at the end of their career. Doing so would hardly be unprecedented in the annals of good management.

A key principle for managers at Toyota is genchi genbutsu, “go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation.” It’s what led Yuji Yokoya, the chief engineer of the current generation Toyota Sienna minivan, to drive 53,000 miles across every American state and Canadian province and much of Mexico in the old Sienna and other minivans. Only through this “go and see” approach could Yokoya truly understand the unique needs of North American minivan drivers.

So, newspaper editor, when was the last time you filed six web feeds before noon? Shot and edited a video? Written a radio script? Filed a public records request? Covered a 14-hour county commission meeting? Looked up property records at the courthouse? Written separate web and print headlines? It’s time to have a go at all the things you’re asking your employees to do. Your meetings and memos will carry on without you, I promise.

Here’s the Concord Monitor in Virtual Earth/Live Maps.