Jeffrey S.Nielsen – The Myth of Leadership Creating Leaderless Organizations

When we join an organization, we are immediately placed into a hierarchy based on our rank. We make false assumptions about our place in the hierarchy that divide our efforts, limit our growth opportunities, and rob us of meaningful, dignified work. Jeffrey Nielsen calls these assumptions the myth of leadership. There is a call for an end to rank-based organizational structures, which foster secrecy and miscommunication, and steal the joy from work, while breeding corruption and abuse of power. Peer-based organizations use rotating peer leadership councils and cross-functional task forces to manage the organization’s work. The new entities are better suited to make decisions based on the organization’s competencies and customer needs, rather than on static functional groups or other artificial divisions. Artificial barriers prevented workers from reaching their potential even though they were universally motivated to make their organizations profitable. Real-world examples from peer-based organizations help make his point.