Leadership in the Headlines

Chapter 7

Sharing

Autocracy has lorded it over democracy at big companies for most of the nearly two centuries that corporate organisations have existed.

The reason is, in part, that companies mostly start with one or two entrepreneurs, whose drive and imagination fuel growth. Even when entrepreneurial vigour is not sufficient to sustain the organisation, the system of professional management that replaces it replicates a natural hierarchical structure.

But this pyramid structure is no longer the only or even the obvious choice for new enterprises. As I pointed out in Chapter 5, alternative forms have always existed – partnerships, co-operatives, mutuals – and the financial crisis gave new impetus to them and to employee-owned models. Networks, ...