Peer-to-Peer Leadership: Why the Network Is the Leader
Baker, an academic and an executive, presents her “bold new ways of thinking about leadership and organizational design—leadership through community.” She explains that “peer to peer (P2P) IT (information technology) architecture is a radical, architectural shift that has transformed the computing industry and . . . ignited an interest in . . . peer-to-peer processes and relationships,” including traditional command-and-control leadership which, she reports, is outmoded. P2P leaders relinquish some of their command and control and allow individuals to be equals as information flows freely to those within the organization who act on it. Baker envisions top-level executives and senior leaders responsible for the network’s health, setting goals and corporate direction but not telling it what to do. She provides examples of organizations successfully using her principles and we learn, “In a P2P network community . . . everyone is involved in creating and working toward that same common purpose and vision, . . . everyone is equal and all are able to act.” A thought-provoking approach to leadership and organizational design for our twenty-first-century, hyper-digitally-connected world. --Mary Whaley