Our obsolete concept of Leadership

We have heard of folk psychology and folk medicine - I think of old age now discarded - but what about the popular leadership'' "The idea that a leader is a strong person at the head of a group is primitive because it is shared across the top? animal kingdom. Putting aside the primitive notions of leadership might be useful for organizations as modern medicine has been to our health.

There have been books written on folk psychology and folk medicine. An economist, Paul Rubin, writing in The Southern Economic Journal, vol. 70, 2003 introduced the concept of the popular economy to label the false beliefs of the laity for the economy.

Folk Physics contains many false beliefs, such as heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones, but many of our everyday beliefs about the physical world are good enough for normal purposes. We do not need any knowledge of modern physics to basic survival. Similarly, the popular leadership might be good enough for simple situations, but complex enough for firms in rapidly changing.

Leadership Characteristics of Folk

History is full of heroic deeds of great leaders, who are almost always men, strong decisive types who knew what they wanted and how to get it. We have moved beyond the need to be physically strong, but it still helps to be tall, with a very strong personality to inspire followers. Our popular concept of leadership states that the leader should be a father figure, someone who can look up to, admire and who we can turn to when we're in trouble. Like our fathers, leaders want to know what to do, to be decisive and seemingly invincible. These leaders must have some kind of strength or power to win our respect and to ward off external threats.

Complexity and Leadership

A simple situation is the small group leadership, such as clubs or gangs. In simple groups, an external threat is met by physical attacks. Modern organizations that compete through innovation are also locked in battle, but their ammunition is creative thinking, the rapid development of new products and services. The person on top of a simple group can be directed in physical battle, but in a complex organization driven by innovation, the person on top can not know where to turn. Our concept of popular leadership gets into trouble here because we expect leaders to have the answers. But the leaders of today's workers depend on the front line knowledge to develop creative ideas for new products.

We have two ways to address the problem of complexity. Or let's say the person who no longer provides the leadership, or we change our definition of leadership to fit the facts. The second option is the popular choice, now say that leadership is a facilitator, strengthening activities, it is not necessary that the leader to provide direction.

Changing the meaning of leadership

Folk concepts to satisfy a human need, even if only to explain how things work. Modern medicine and other sciences has been able to replace the popular concepts as they could come up with better explanations. If the head of a group can not fully provide direction, there is a chance to say that such a person is a manager not a leader. Instead of eliminating the need to provide leadership from our concept of leadership, one could argue that leaders actually provide direction, but that can be bottom-up and top-down.

Characteristics of Bottom-Up Leadership

- Provides new direction by promoting a better way of doing business or offering a new product, for example, an employee of Sony, which has convinced the top management, despite the resistance, to develop the Playstation.
- Based on the power to innovate, not the power to dominate a group.
- Captures part of popular wisdom - that the leaders of breaking new ground, show the way, challenge the status quo.
- Always on the move, because no one could monopolize good ideas, so it can not be based or hierarchical position.
- One-off does not act, a role or a person, is a specific impact that can be shown to an organization by teams and individuals.
- It may come from outside the business, such as a competitor. It is not limited to members of the organization, not to mention the person responsible.
- Comes to an end when senior management buys the innovation proposed, so that does not lead to leading application management.
- It has nothing to do with managing people.
- It can be shown throughout the organization, as in warfare, not only from the top down.

Implications of Reinventing Leadership

Much of what the group leaders should be recast to management. We can improve our image management and consider it as a support, facilitation and enhancement. We can now say that leadership promotes new directions, while management executes them as efficiently as possible.

Organizations wishing to promote greater commitment and talent retention, and faster innovation, may do so by the workers' front line knowledge leaders feel, seeing their efforts to promote new products or improved processes, such as acts of leadership. This responsibility requires a big step further. The leaders must be emotionally intelligent enough to recognize that not all need to show the leadership that the organization requires. Folk has the leadership effectiveness. Addictive is not in anyone in a leadership position .......