Amy Bass in an article in today’s CNN opinion section entitled, four key takeaways from World Cup 2014, asks the question of all sports – Is it the team, or is it the star?
In development circles, many people believe the answer to this question is ‘the star.’ Leaders are seen as heroic figures that fostered miraculous changes in their countries, like Lee Kuan Yew for the Singapore miracle. In a recent blog/video Matt Andrews unpacks the hero orthodoxy in development and finds that, managing change is complex, and requires complex multi-agent leadership interventions.
As for the World Cup, Bass concludes, “The last game of this tournament pitted the best player in the world, Messi, against the best team in the world, Germany. And if nothing else, this match demonstrated definitively that while players like Messi might win games, teams like Germany win titles.”
If you are interested in learning more about multi-agent leadership read who really leads development? and going beyond heroic leaders in development.