Good questions. The Philosopher Kings might be better considered to be the inner circle, or in a large organisation the inner sanctum of the inner circle.

My read on your question and maybe on the cartoon influenced me here was “Shared Leadership: Fact or Fantasy (in a big company)”.

Obviously this is made up of lots of individuals needing to show individual leadership that goes up and down the organisation, but sometimes this takes too long. Consider the saga of Telstra and Sol Trujillo – his inner sanctum of key lieutenants were in the main people he had worked with before and imported into key roles at the company. He probably read into the company history that it was slow moving and bureaucratic, built on a good engineering base. So he leveraged this engineering base to bring new products to market quickly and tried to turn it into a more customer facing organisation.

This might be an example of a company in crisis so you bring in the ‘Homeric Hero ‘with all his failings to do radical surgery on the business. But as you note, some large organisations have momentum due to size, revenue etc. They can grow by small incremental strategies and copying competitors (aka as benchmarking and world best practice). Their Philosopher Kings are in the inner circle and have their shot at the top spot and happy to play the game, minimise risky career moves or innovate outside the square.

As the old saying goes, you should never accept a KPI you didn’t write for yourself.

Yes, Robin, exactly! I love working with those people, also! In fact, they are THE people I want to work with. What I find is that those people don’t want followers, they want to work with peers. They don’t want to be telling people what to do, they want to be having others be part of the whole, taking responsiblity (and blame), and MAKING IT WORK!

And I’m not sure that I often put consensus and collaboration in the same sentence. I find that strong-willed associates often have intense dialogue in pursuit of excellence. Consensus brings to mind compromise which is definitely what I’m not about.

I think in the world of solopreneurs and independent contractors collaboration of the very best is the name of the game. So, this brings me to the fun part- terms of venery: just exactly what is a group of leaders called? A gaggle of leaders? No, gaggle of geese. Clowder of leaders? No, clowder of cats? I give up. Do you know?

And, also, for the fun of it, this line from Ted Turner has been running through my mind, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way!”

!!

Right – off to book that holiday now.

(Great points throught this – I have been “raised” by two leaders in my working life – have not thought about postives or otherwise on this. will do now!).

I share this with you:

“The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to them their own. ~Benjamin Disraeli”

This applies to the ‘leaders’ that you referred too. Everyone has the capacity to change especially them. The challenge is ‘how’.

One word: Herculeanlove.

Collaborators, yes. Absolutely. Digesting another person’s thoughts and accepting them as a cogent influence on your own decision making process? Yes. Actively seeking sagacious discussion and exchange of ideas to continuously fill the data vessel and thus exponentially increase your chances of generating accurate and intelligent output – a resounding yes, we must!

But is this truly shared leadership? Not in my opinion. At the end of the day, when we all lay in bed and crawl inside our own heads again, we all stand alone. And we are all 100% percent responsible for our own decisions and actions. Maybe the person that accepts this wholly, without excuse or justification, is the rightful owner of the label “leader.”

I thank you for your grounding, Kristina, and for your always humble, truly authentic contributions to these discussions.

Cheers, Carolyne

I’ve been in a situation very recently where many very good people have been treated badly by a ‘leader’ who clearly is not leadership material.

I agree wholeheartedly with compassionate leadership/followership, and have seen that demonstrated by the direct reports in the above situation to little effect (short-term). People get tired of being mis-lead by those who get promoted beyond their coded competence.

Worse for me is the knowledge that such despotic behaviour is tolerated by the most senior leaders in the organisation as long as the numbers are being delivered. The direct reports get reluctant to speak out for fear of losing their jobs and income on which their dependents rely.

No easy answer, my friend.

Thanks for sharing.

Have a Herculean weekend!

Best of life, Robin

Thank you for giving those specific examples. There’s something refreshingly powerful about functional adult-adult leader behaviours.

Well done.

Best, Robin

Continuing the traditional family-role example, what happens when 1 ‘leader’ wants to take the family on a holiday to the beach and the other wants to fly to NZ?
I guess there is a healthy debate about costs, benefits, etc and a pair of mature shared leaders would do NZ this year and beach next year – perhaps by the tossing of a coin.
The alternative – where 1 leader demands the right to make the final decision of the beach (to the total exclusion of a beach holiday) – would indicate to me that leadership is not in fact shared at all.

Another example of shared leadership is a comedy duo – 1 comic + 1 straightman. Each person is the leader of their half, and if they don’t do it well, then the duo falls apart.

Robert

You asked:

“Not everyone becomes a fruit” – in your experience, what happens to those who are probably more suited to taking the role of ‘root’, ‘branch’, ‘leaf’ or ’stem’, but insist on being regarded as ‘fruit’?

You love them as fruit and empower them to be the best they can be. It’s amazing how when you genuinely believe in people and tell them how much you believe in them and what they can achieve, they invariably surprise you with what they can do.

What is your experience with this Robin?

Regards

In your opinion, how realistic is it for organizations to indulge these wisdom-loving Philosopher Kings their idle star gazing (apologies to Plato)?

Or is it more the case that the leader will tolerate them as long as the quarterly metrics are delivered. How is it that so many large companies can go for so long without delivering any real innovation? Where are their Philosopher Kings?

Best to you, Robin

You’ve provided a lexicon with which to clarify my own thoughts.

You’ve also articulated how I feel about leadership, having never been comfortable with using it as a label to describe my role.

I understand the role of catalyst, and am very comfortable with the notion of shared responsibility.

Interestingly, I love to work with people who regard themselves as leaders – people with so called ultimate responsibility for an organisation or business. They interest me enormously. I’m fascinated by their strengths, weaknesses and how they make decisions.

So, moving away from the idea of ‘consensus culture’, when the catalyst and the champion work together and share responsibility, who makes the ultimate decision?

Kristina, I really appreciate your generous inputs and learn so much from them.

Best to you, Robin

Yes, thought leadership is a great distinction. The image that comes to mind is a continual leap-frogging or ‘lead-frogging’ as leaders stretch and encourage each other to better, richer insights and understanding.

This is more how I have felt about the dialog that happens on this blog. You contribute a leading thought and others use it to stimulate their thinking and ‘lead’ the discussion into fresh and different areas.

What about in business, Karen? Do you think leadership can be shared?

Best to you, Robin

That distinction in useful because it’s broadened the scope of my understanding of leadership.

In your opinion, are leaders made or born – nature or nurture?

Building on Scott’s point. I have never regarded myself as a leader – a solid right-hand man, but never a leader.

In a business situation, I’m always keen for there to be an ultimate decision-maker. One who will step forward and lead the charge once all is said and done.

Best to you, Robin

It was wonderful to meet you this week, and your generous comment is greatly appreciated. You make a very wise point and paint a vivid picture. I’m tempted to want to draw it.

“Not everyone becomes a fruit” – in your experience, what happens to those who are probably more suited to taking the role of ‘root’, ‘branch’, ‘leaf’ or ‘stem’, but insist on being regarded as ‘fruit’?

Best to you, my friend.

Robin

In your scenario, “When it comes to really big issues…they collaborate, reach agreement and then move ahead.”

I think I conceptually understand what you mean. How does that work in reality – especially when stalemates occur?

In your opinion, is there a case for one of the couple taking the role of ‘default’ leader in the case of an impasse?

Best to you, Robin