The Myth of Leadership: Creating Leaderless Organizations
By Jeffrey S. Nielsen
Davies-Black Publishing, April 2004
208 pages, $25.95
You can argue with consultant Nielsen’s endpoint—that work would be more fulfilling and more efficient if there were no bosses—but what is worth paying attention to here is his belief that organizations invest too much power in senior leadership. The problem, he says, is that if the CEO and senior leaders are expected to do almost everything important—determine vision, set priorities and the like—then there is very little for the rest of us to do other than follow orders. Creativity and discretionary effort from the ranks are essentially eliminated. Still, it’s good to be the boss. If you want to remain one, then you should make sure you are getting the most out of everyone who works for you. That means you don’t want to reserve all the glory for yourself.