Leadership is a weird thing. For most of us, we evaluate leaders on their hairstyle. Seriously. Think about it. There was no way that Mike Dukakis was going to be president. Same with John Kerry. 

So they were both Massachusetts liberal political insiders, but they also had terrible hair! 

Alright, leadership is not only about the hair. It is also about relationship. I recently read Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World by Margaret Wheatley. The author claims that most of what we know about leadership was derived from our understanding of Newtonian physics — gravity, straight lines … gravity. Just look at the typical organizational chart from any average business. It is a bunch of boxes with lines that lead directly to more boxes. 

But actually the world is much more complicated than that. We actually live in a world of quantum physics, where everything is related to something else and often everything at once. In such a world, leadership is not about a title, or a desk in a large office. 

Leadership is about relationships. Power in the quantum physics world comes from relationships. Knowledge in this world is derived from relationships. 

That means we live in a world in which respect is not given, but earned. Phrases such as “because I’m the boss” or “because I said so” are just not compelling. Leaders must understand what motivates each member of her team and leverage that motivation to benefit the greater corporation. 

Perhaps that’s why social media holds so much promise for corporate and government America? We have the opportunity to get beyond the solid walls of our buildings and reach out to build relationship with our customers.