Reject the notion of ‘heroic leadership’

#2 of 12 Great Qualities of a Social Entrepreneur

When I started working in the early 1980s, the ‘heroic leader’ was a dominant leadership model. Heroic leaders are charismatic, make decisions unilaterally, are courageous and challenge the status quo. Heroic leaders have a tendency to undermine employee engagement by being inspiring rather than by involving them in making decisions. And they are almost exclusively men.

The financial crisis of 2008 probably put a temporary end to the era of the heroic leader in financial services, but there is plenty of evidence that this is alive and well in certain industries today.

I’ve always rejected the heroic leader model. And I certainly don’t think it works for social enterprise. I started out by co-founding a workers’ co-operative, which is the antithesis of heroic leadership, being based on a co-ownership business model.

In all my enterprises I have had a great business partner, and the success of each enterprise has always been in direct proportion to the strength of that partnership. My most successful enterprise was due to the extraordinarily strong partnership that my colleague and I built. I have been fortunate to have great partners in the other enterprises.

Every entrepreneur is different, but I know for me that when it comes to building a successful social enterprise, two is better than one. I need a business partner to bounce ideas, to share the responsibility, to plan and dream with, to make better decisions, to challenge each other, to support each other through the tough times, to celebrate our successes and always to have each other’s back.

I reject the notion of the heroic leader. I’m a dialogic leader who needs people to discuss, co-create and work together with.

Creating Social Enterprise is a book and newsletter by Patrick Nash, lifelong social entrepreneur

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