David Foster Wallace on Leadership, Illustrated and Read by Debbie Millman
This is one of the paradoxes of creative collaboration. Great Groups are made up of people with rare gifts working together as equals. Yet, in virtually every one there is one person who acts as maestro, organizing the genius of the others. He or she is a pragmatic dreamer, a person with an original but attainable vision. Ironically, the leader is
... See morePatricia Ward Biederman • Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration
The leaders who can do so must first of all command unusual respect. Such a leader has to be someone a greatly gifted person thinks is worth listening to, since genius almost always has other options. Such a leader must be someone who inspires trust, and deserves it. And though civility is not always the emblematic characteristic of Great Groups, i
... See morePatricia Ward Biederman • Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration
A leader is simply someone who is accountable for the larger behavioral statement that encapsulates those below it. No more dickering about titles and who is Chief of something and who isn’t. Status is a result only of behavioral accountability.
Matt Wallaert • Start at the End: How to Build Products That Create Change
immensely empowering for the follower. Jillian had the same experience. “At the highest levels,” she told me, “the leader is leading, absolutely, but part of leading is paying immensely close attention to the follower and her responses. And the follower is responding, but the nature of her response can, in an instant, change everything. The followe
... See moreJoshua Wolf Shenk • Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs
We have embraced a myth that leaders are special, particularly brave or gifted. But mostly, leaders are amplified by their peers, part of a culture where leading is expected, rewarded and supported.