Decentralized leadership models were discussed at a blockchain forum roundtable. Participants defined decentralized leadership as showing others the way through a distributed model. Key qualities of decentralized leadership identified included flexibility, bringing people together through collaboration, and disrupting the status quo. Forum participants also discussed the importance of ethics, relationships, and competencies for decentralized leadership based on Aristotle's three appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos.

1. Decentralized Leadership Models: Showing the Way
Knowledge Capturing: BC Blockchain Forum: Leadership, Ethics and
Governance Roundtable:
Date: May 29th
, 2018
Venue: FirstCoin Capital, Vancouver, BC
Leadership Practitioners
• Jennifer Aberman
• Marianne Wyne
• MaRi Eagar
• Dr Martin Pow
• Rochelle Fairfield
Format:
• Using liberating structures adapted from the 1-2-4-All method (tool)
transformed into somatic experience demonstrating decentralized,
“meshworks” model (node-bodies “Rightmesh concept”), paired nodebodies,
nodes, masternodes, oracles, network questioning, proof of
knowledge/engagement/data), network data broadcasting
o No consensus was required, all data considered valid.
o Proof of participation in process
• Presenting simple decentralized leadership concepts and model for
participants to define in their own words (classic leadership model based on
Aristotle’s Three Proofs of Art):
o Three types of appeals or what he called the "three proofs" – that
rhetor/writer/speaker should use as means of persuasion. In classical
Greek, the three proofs are known as ethos, logos, and pathos.
Leadership Defined during the workshop (MaRi Eagar0
The word lead originates from the Anglo-Saxon word “laed” which means to
“show the way”.
The essence of decentralized leadership therefore means to be a pathfinder – a
person who shows the way to others, stepping away from current thinking of
centralized leadership towards a bold and clear stance of decentralized and
distributed impact.
Knowledge resources below captured directly from flipcharts during the workshop
Why is decentralized leadership important? (Martin Pow)
• Ebb and flow of leadership
• Bring focus
• Debate
• Inspiration

2. • Vision
• Create opportunity for all – not just the leaders
• Balance
• Setting direction with collaboration
• Leading by example
• Moral guidance
• Flexibility
• Social contract
• Good collaboration
• Legitimizing
• Values
• Focusing diverse interpretation (“oxymoron”)
• Orientation
• Governance is required if we are going to grow: Leadership is required in
some way if there is governance
• Disrupting the status quo, making sure not to go backwards
• When there are less people in power (not so many leaders), there is more
corruption of power
o Therefore if we have more leaders, we will be able to counter this
• To help break down fear barriers to mass adoption
• Decentralization leads to competition in leadership, thus creating more choice
and more growth
• Launching on emotion: connect and human as humans
• Thought leaders for guidance
• Stagnation in infrastructure
• There is always governance – implicit or explicit
• Constantly changing economy
• Co-ordination = Governance
• Vision for future, not just get through today
• Social protection for the not tech-savvy: access/inclusion
• Long term viability
• If bad for humanity – Jettison
• Facilitation, bring different ideas to the table
• Collaboration facilitated
• Leader as role in whole à expertise bring out collective wisdom
• Design of system is regulation
• Code comes from people
• Freedom – rules tension
• Ask: what is a leader? Define that as a community
• Relay race: who has the key information? - Emerging leaders?
• Fluid/agile layer
• PMP/blend implementation
• Power: Positional
• Power: Personal

3. • Order to chaos
• Focus on present experience
• Have to define what makes us different to competitors
• Tying together ethics and decentralization benefits
Dr Martin Pow brought lessons from the old economy to the new economy at the BC
Blockchain Forum leadership roundtable, highlighting the importance of decentralized
leadership (and ensuring more transparent, values-oriented technology). He also reminded
us all of the growth of Linux and the original challenges to adoption. And then right at the
end, Martin handed out a leadership book as a surprise prize!!
Ethos: What is the Ethos of Decentralized Leadership? (What ethics are
important to lead in the token and blockchain economy?) (Aristotle: Ethical
Appeal)
• Integrity
• Honesty
• Truth
• Choice
• Openness/learning
• Transparency
• Accountability
• Inclusion
• Democracy
• Clear communication
• Fairness

4. • Opt-in / Opt-out
• Respect
• Voluntary Interactions
• Humility
• Empathy
• Balancing “warmth” (Martin, can you remember what this was?)
• Inclusion
• Transparency
• Locus of Control
• Patience
• Be real human
• Inspire
• Create thriving
• Open to new ideas
• Anti-establishment
• Awesomeness
• Happiness
• Shrewd
• Inclusive
• Integrity
• Flexibility
• Freedom
• Simplicity
• Competition
• Autonomy
• Kindness
• Transparency
• Accountability
• Informed decision making
• Performance
• Morality
• Lifting human spirit
• Privacy
• Humor
• “Absurdity”
• Smart
• Groundswell (grassroots)
• Rebelious
• Alternatives
• Mediative
• Focused operations
• Interweaving (between different protocols)
• Building bridges
• Interoperability

5. • Sense of agency
• Integrity
• Empathy
• Intellect
• Transparency
• Self-responsibility (emotions, actions)
• Internal locus of control
• Egalitarianism
• Inclusion
• Education
• Non-toxic collaboration
• Mentorship
• Trust
• Movement & growth
• Facilitators of space
• Non-duality of extremes
• Adaptable approach
• Inidividualism
• Respect
• Inclusivity
• Knowledge about blockchain technology
• Humans – it’s about humans
• BC and Tech should empower (it is not a religion)
• Transparency and inclusiveness
• Flexibility: willingness to be wrong
• Forgiveness
• Reconciliation
• Truth versus non-truth (as control, domination)
• Honesty
• Approach to problems: Openness to collaboration
• What is honesty?
• Consensual understanding
• Trust in protocol, and minimization: related to power balance
• Personal ethos and Community ethos

6. Jen describing Ethos and Decentralized Leadership at the BC Blockchain ForumLeadership
Roundtable. She defined what Ehos meant, how moral integrity and character is related, and
the importance of values for decentralized communities and blockchain projects.
Pathos: How do decentralized leaders lead through relationships?
(Aristotle: Emotional Appeal)
• Succinct questioning
• Keep other interes in mind: insights generated by love, care, supportiveness
• 100% attention to the person, for the person (not for policy or organization)
• Vision & inspiration rather than coercion and fear: voluntary action
• Intervention of our attention
• Platform for comments at personal level, get specific questions answered à
trust
• Passion to solve something à convene: build systems of systems
• Values of leaders inspire to join
• Questions of group help focus where to put efforts
• Relationship as inspiration à like-minded, similar values
• Sincere connection
• Competitive when you know you’re better J
• Race to top, not to bottom
• Reputation
• Trust
• Common values

7. • Endorsement
• Discernment/Judgement
• Courage
• Fearless
• People follow a “trust” protocol (1st
degree, 2nd
degree, 3rd
degree) (what
makes them trustworthy)
• Transparent
• Honest
• Ethics and values resonance: People come together for common ideas
• Help to mitigate risk
• Controversy
• Twitter
• Provide competence
• Value
• Strong personal relationships
• Legitimacy: You’ve got to be legit
• Finding our “tribes”
• Disregard for protocol (Town criers)
• Not being “top down” (not being micro-managed)
• Understand who you are to be able to connect with others
• Create consensus
• Trust
• Human emotion
• Being courageous
• Confident
• Being supported
• Share/distribute power
• Facilitator
• Democracy/autonomy
• Genuine
• Trust
• Honest
• Townhall
• Transparent
• Communication
• Tech/IT Controls
• Coaching
• Seeing Human
• Personalize
• Life
• (Fool): Lie to me once, shame on you.
• (Fool): Lie to me twice, shame on me

8. Rochelle brought her deep understanding of relating to self, others and the world around you,
to the BC Blockchain Forum Leadership Roundtable discussion about leading through
Pathos (emotional appeal, leading through relationships). In particular to also relate to people
when we don't feel that they "resonate" with us.
Logos: How do you lead decentralization through competence? What
competencies are needed for decentralized leadership (Aristotle: Logical
Appeal) (knowledge, mindset, skills)
• Understand common goal
• Clear value/mission/vision
• Technology,
• Communication
• Ability to adapt to change
• Project management skills
• Take advantage of change
• Hire external consultants to lead in this new structure
• Communication skills

9. • Bringing in consumers into the community
• Delegating/swallow ego
• Bring people together/efficiency
• Demonstrating values (such as inclusion and humility): role model
• Foresight
• Kindness
• Detachment to sacred cows: can shift in any direction
• Thinking in “bets”: decision making strategy à calculated move forward with
not all information
• Community leadership
• Listening
• Front Stabber, not Back Stabber
• Adverserial
• Emotionally intelligent decision making
• Whole mind
• Willing to be examine one’s own bias
• Anti-fragile
• Intelligent
• Logic
• Comfortable in chaos
• Good explainer
• Cipherpunk
• Shared responsibility
• Win-win mindset
• API’s so that data can transfer seamlessly
• Co-ordinating competencies: know when to delegate, fill skillset gaps
• Being teacher and student
• Limitation of experts: Know yours
• Technical knowledge
• Give and take of knowledge à exchange
• Cat-herding skills (cat herding: Video recommended to explain the concept)
• The Art of persuasion
• Guiding through concepts rather than labels
• Socratic method
• Quest for knowledge
• Having energy
• C Excitement O à beacon
• Responsiveness
• Accessible

10. Marianne capturing knowledge shared by the "masternode" during the BC Blockchain
ForumLeadership Roundtable. Marianne spoke about and challenged us all to think about

11. the shift in mindset, skills and knowledge required to become comfortable moving from
"central models" of leadership to decentralized models.
Meme Creation (post-workshop) facilitated by Martin
• Opera
• Community awards
• Podcasts
• Mime
• Videos
Notes: MaRi Eagar
• Many of the ideals from the decentralized blockchain generation overlap
those with what is aspired for leaders in established enterprise (e g articulated
in workshops, leadership books, etc)
• However, there are clear differences (compared to the content I would usually
capture doing similar work in a centralized, established organizations). For
example,
o democratic,
o distribution of power,
o leaders held accountable by not just investors but also users and
developers (community),
o ability to create consensus (not coerce),
o ability to lead through real connection and trust,
o admiration for changing the status quo,
o strong sense of self ownership and responsibility,
o inclusiveness is crucial,
o protection of others (e g not tech savvy, etc),
o kindness, compassion,
o ability to be fine with diverse opinions,
o town criers (whistleblowers)
Next steps:
• There are various implications for executives, professionals, organizations
and the leaders/founders of these technologies and eco-systems to review
and reflect on the importance of the values and culture of the blockchain
generation, for example
o Product, services and value development and digital value
exchange
o Marketing and distribution
o People risk, policies and due diligence (decentralization ethics are
different)