As usual, some of these slides will mean nothing if you're not hearing me narrate and ask questions along the way, but this was a Birkbeck College session about thinking of leadership as a collective, rather than individual concept. Bits of complexity, social media and self-organised networks stuff in there too... and Slideshare didn't like some of my fonts... c'est la vie!

1. Leadership: A body without a
head, a web without a spider
Liam Barrington-Bush, ConcreteSolutions.org.uk, @hackofalltrades
Photo by goatfarm53237 on Flickr, Creative Commons http://www.flickr.com/photos/goatfarm5237/

2. Leadership?
• Can it be learned?
– In a classroom?
• Is it ‘inherent’ to some?
• Is a skill?
• Is a quality?
• Is it an ethos?

3. Leadership
What does it look/feel like when it’s bad?
What does it look/feel like when it’s good?

4. Leader our
...as
grandparents
ship
imagined it...
• The Great Man Theories
• Trait theories
• Behaviourist theories
• Situational leadership

5. The problem(s) with ‘leaders’
1. They leave
2. It goes to their head
3. We create unrealistic expectations for them
4. They are easier to blame, than ourselves
5. It is harder to realise our abilities
6. They breed conformity

6. How does leadership relate to the
values of community?

7. ‘The First Follower’
Or
‘How a Crazy Dancing Man
Became A Leader’

8. David Wilcox’s organising models...
Image can be found at: http://socialreporter.com/?p=1037

9. Emergence
:
When a series
of
small, unrelate
d
actions, create
an outcome
bigger than
any of the
parts.

10. http://www.kovasboguta.com/uploads/4/7/9/5/4795292/egyptinfluencenetworklarge.gif

12. g the
world
without
‘leaders’
_________
_
For better
Red Osama image Creative Commons, Jaque Delarue

13. “[The] combination of shared meaning with
freedom to determine one’s actions is how
systems grow to be more effective and well-
ordered… People who are deeply connected to
a cause don’t need directives, rewards, or
leaders to tell them what to do.”
- Margaret Wheatley

14. What
SHOULD
leadership
look like if...?

15. What will stop you from
using these ideas in the
‘real world’?

16. You want more???
Leadership in the Age of Complexity: From Hero to Host
Margaret Wheatley w/ Debbie Frieze 2010
Walk Out Walk On
Margaret Wheatley w/ Debbie Frieze 2012
Getting to Maybe: How the world is changed
Frances Westley, et al. Vintage Canada 2006

17. ...now lead the way!
Liam Barrington-Bush
email: liam@concretesolutions.org.uk
web: www.concretesolutions.org.uk
twitter: @hackofalltrades
mobile: +44 (0) 7775732383