Of leaders – the heroic and not-so heroic

 

As part of the Stanford SEED program, our management team is required to read some pretty deep articles, case studies and management papers so we can all get on the same strategic page and create the Business Transformation Plan for Suyati. One of the articles that I read included a couple of chapters from “Power Up: Transforming Organizations Through Shared Leadership” by David L. Bradford and Allan R. Cohen.  The essence of the article is that Heroic leadership, the kind that gets things done by sheer will, command, authority and knowledge is slowly and surely giving way to not-so heroic leaders (the actual term used is Post-Heroic Leaders). These leaders do not lead per se. They create environments where individuals step up and take responsibility for their success. This guarantees the maximum contribution from every employee as they become more empowered, take charge, step up and meet and exceed expectations, in turn becoming catalysts for others also to become like them.

Hmm. Hmm.

Continue Reading