Max S. Dunn

Book: The Starfish and the Spider

Posted by: Max Dunn on July 17, 2009 10:41:14

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
by Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom

This book is not about what it claims to be. The title says it is about "leaderless organizations", but that is not true. This book is about decentralized organizations without traditional leaders, and that is a big difference.

Let's look at some of the organizations it discusses:

• Napster, started by Shawn Fanning
• Apaches, led by Nant'an - spiritual and cultural leaders
• Kazaa, formed by Niklas Zennstrom
• Alcholics Anonymous, started and led by Bill Wilson
• Craigslist, run by Craig Newmark
• Wikipedia, guided by Jimmy Wales

Hmm, none of these organizations sound "leaderless" to me. However, it is true that they are all decentralized organizations that don't have traditional leadership.

Brafman and Beckstrom highlight this point by discussing the differences be a traditional leader, like a CEO, and one that acts more like a catalyst. This table sums up this point nicely:

CEO	Catalyst
The Boss	A Peer
Command-and-control	Trust
Rational	Emotionally Intelligent
Powerful	Inspirational
Directive	Collaborative
In the Spotlight	Behind the Scenes
Order	Ambiguity
Organizing	Connecting

 

To highlight the point that this book is not about leaderless organization, the last two chapters discuss hybrid organizations - those that have components of both centralization and decentralization - as well as finding the best balance between the two.

Overall, a very well written, enjoyable and useful book for anyone thinking about building or being involved with a 21st century organization. However, don't expect this book to be about leaderless organizations, regardless of what the title says.