Leading Without Command

Book excerpt: Leading Without Command offers practicing and aspiring leaders in business and other disciplines a new way to lead in a world defined by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. The compelling argument in this book is that leading through command, control, and deployment of raw positional power can no longer guarantee superior organizational performance on a sustainable basis. A new leadership model based on a humane perspective anchored on people-centred principles and supported by a set of appropriate skills and behaviours is put forward. This book is essential reading for anyone in a position of authority or influence over people and for anyone who needs to come to terms with the demands of a globally integrated and hypercompetitive world driven by digital technology, knowledge, and the redistribution of power from leaders to followers in organizations, nations, and societies.