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Are leaders in business like military Generals or is business now more like guerilla warfare? In the old days, the Chief Executive could lead the charge from the front - making all the decisions. Competing in complex, knowledge intensive businesses is more like fighting a guerilla war. So-called Level 5 Leaders, as defined by Jim Collins in his book Good to Great, recognize that they don't have all the answers, so they ask searching questions to draw ideas for new directions out of others.
You could say that such CEOs recognize that they aren't in a position to lead, because of complexity, so they foster bottom-up leadership throughout the organization. You have products in various niches and you don't know where your enemies will attack. You're fighting on several fast changing fronts and the CEO can't be close to them all.
Front line troops are empowered to fight proactively - by continuously innovating. But surely this is delegating leadership to them - those on the front line who act. Even in conventional warfare, today's Generals stay well behind the action.
Not many Generals lead from the front as extensively as did Alexander the Great. The further back from the action, the more the formal leader becomes a manager - a chess player, a remote investor, cheerleader or facilitator. Strategically shifting troops and other resources from afar is an investment process.
Managers resemble conventional Generals, leaders act more like guerilla fighters. This new context of rapid innovation calls for thought leadership from all employees.
Complexity demands leadership from everyone. In an era of the "wisdom of crowds" new ideas can come from anywhere with people showing micro instances of leadership, as in micro-blogging. This is very much like guerrilla warefare.
