The future of leadership: Combining vertical and shared leadership to transform knowledge work

Executive Overview Knowledge work is becoming increasingly team-based. The reason is clear. It is becoming ever more difficult for any one person to be an expert on all aspects of the work that needs to be done, and this is true in a wide variety of contexts ranging from the R&D lab to the executive suite. With the shift to team-based knowledge work comes the need to question more traditional models of leadership. Traditionally, leadership has been conceived around the idea that one person is firmly “in charge” while the rest are simply followers—what is termed vertical leadership. However, recent research indicates that leadership can be shared by team leaders and team members—rotating to the person with the…