Explain "leeway in this respect can be granted"

[gonghoujun]

Dear Teacher,
I don't know the meaning of "leeway in this respect can be granted". Please explain it, thank you.
See its context:
You should also be careful about asking your secretary to run your personal errands, though for the high-powered executive in the upper echelons of management, leeway in this respect can be granted. His time is worth hundreds of dollars an hour, and if he simply does not have time to do personal errands himself , he can ask his secretary to take care of them.

 

[SoothingDave]

"An exception may be made."

 

[Barb_D]

Leeway is used to mean that there is a margin, or extra "room" (in a metaphorical sense).

Something is due at 4 pm, but I can give you some leeway and accept it at 4:15.

I think it will cost us about $475, but I've budgeted $550 to give us a little leeway.

 

[gonghoujun]

Thank teachers very much for your good replies!

 

[BobK]

:up: Etymologically, 'way' is movement in the water (as in 'under way' and the less common 'steerage way'); and the leeward is the opposite of windward. So 'leeway' is what a sailing boat has when its sails are down - it is blown gently downwind. It just happens. The boat should be still in theory, but it moves in practice. So 'leeway' has come to mean any practical deviation from the theory.

b