Heroic leadership is a leadership style characterized by a leader taking a central, authoritative role in driving change. At its best, it involves setting a clear vision, making decisions unilaterally, and leading by example. This approach contrasts with post-heroic or shared leadership styles, which emphasize collaboration and participative decision-making.

Alternative Styles of Leadership

Despite what we may think, the prevalence of non-heroic leadership models is rare in organisations in New Zealand where, top down, command and control, “I alone can fix it” thinking continues to dominate many organisations and cultures.

While non-heroic leadership is not yet widespread, there is growing recognition of its benefits in fostering collaboration, empowerment, and shared ownership among teams. Thought leaders and researchers are increasingly advocating for this approach as more suitable for complex and dynamic environments.

Our Next Culture First Event

On Wednesday, April 9th, we will feature three thought leaders sharing their work involving servant, distributed, and relational leadership. These talks incorporating research, case studies and leadership development approaches will be followed by interactive idea generation on how to support alternative styles of leadership.

Speakers for the Event Will Be:

• Emma Rutherford – An Organisational Development specialist with over 15 year’s experience in the public and private sector implementing successful culture change, Emma has recently completed a master’s degree on Organisational Resilience and Change.  Emma will share her research and findings related to servant leadership. In particular, her insight that, leaders who demonstrate the key components of leadership within a Te Ao Māori context had significantly more engaged teams.
• Dr Chris Jansen - Director and Senior Consultant at Leadership Lab NZ and Edmund Hillary Fellow (EHF), Chris’s work with Leadership Lab has been bringing cultural capability to schools both here and abroad.  By partnering with Mana Whenua and other organisations, his work helps schools recognise and address systemic biases. Chris will share a case study of an approach he and the Leadership Lab have used to instill an alternative to person-driven change.
• Dr Michelle Shields – Director, Fulcrum Associates has worked with the University of Waikato and Brightstar to bring Relational Leadership approaches to healthcare and farm teams. As a model of leadership with purpose at the centre of the group-driven change, its application has been reflected in Māori leadership studies.  She will share how this approach is critical to solving complex problems with multiple stakeholders.