[dgack]

There are many ways you can run an organization. You can be cutthroat and vicious, using duplicity to get to the top and then the leverage of your title to force people to do your bidding. Anyone who crosses you must be dealt with quickly and without mercy. And because your authority is derived from your position, you must never admit you were wrong, because that shows weakness.

Another way to run an organization is to lead by example, be humble, be self-aware and willing to admit when you've made a mistake. You can make a commitment to quality that ensures that even when things are going well, you're going to be asking "what could we do better" and when things are going poorly, you don't just eject people, you focus on processes that have failed. In short, others follow you not out of fear of your title, but out of respect for your character.

You can apply these archetypes to any number of organizations: clubs, businesses, governments, even sports franchises.

In general I've seen sporadic evidence of the first model working in various industries. However, if you look at the market leaders in almost any industry, I would be surprised if that organization didn't look a lot more like the second group than the first.