As many have written, the model of leadership known as “command and control” is on the way out. “Command and control” has been the cultural paradigm of leadership for a very long time. It is all about having an authoritative leader, who knows most, (if not all), the answers and loyal troops who follow this leader. Hallmarks of this style include motivation through authority and fear. It also encourages the troops to follow the rules and policies and “fall in line,” versus being creative and innovative. To a large extent this style creates dependency of the troops on the leaders, and rewards status quo. It is not a particularly efficient model of operation. So what does ‘leadership’ mean now? Clearly that is a complicated question. At 2130, we believe to understand that question you need to start with "who are leaders now?" How do you define them? From our perspective, we believe that everyone can and should be a leader -- that leadership is not dependent on having a particular job title or rank in an organization. We’ll let Suzanne Frindt, one of our Co-Founders explain it:

So how do we all become leaders? What are the skills required? These questions are fundamental to the work we do at 2130. There are a lot of leadership theories out there, (and a lot of good information and great writers). However, our focus is on the day-to-day experience of leadership. Theories are great until you get back to the office and find frustrated employees, team relations breaking down, and challenges with vendors and partners. We believe it’s critical that leaders, (meaning everyone interested in leading their business and their life), build practical day-to-day skills and capacities so they can create the results they want.

Our Productive Interactions program is designed to help people do just that and our next session is on Friday, July 17th in Orange County. We’d love to see you there. (Click here for more information.) If you can’t make it, we are going to do more posts in the future to help people understand the value of interacting productively and how you can build those skills.