Web 2.0 and Servant Leadership

Comments are off

I have had several meetings with companies and organizations inquiring about the significance, if any, of Web 2.0 and how it applies to them. It has been very interesting that even some of those that are in the Gen F crowd, are technology oriented, and do not see the practical application of this mindset for building and growing their organizations. Over the years of doing turnarounds, I learned early on the benefits of free-form task force and project team approaches for transforming organizations; blowing past the top down hierarchy that typically constrains growth and progress. This approach is also at the core of the Web 2.0 empowerment. A company that harnesses this style will succeed by developing servant leadership, empowering and equipping its workforce and customers to contribute to the overall accomplishment.

This will require companies to reinvent their management practices by luring the most innovative members of the Facebook Generation and meeting their Web 2.0 based expectations. Management guru Gary Hamel writes. “On the Web, every leader is a servant leader; no one has the power to command or sanction.” At the Wall Street Journal Blogs, he has a good article highlighting the distinctions between “The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500.”  Read Article…