MGT 610
“Smartest in the Room”
Barry Bland
California Intercontinental University
MGT610: Mastering Leadership
Introduction
Shared leadership is a developing team domain rising from the dissemination of leader-
ship influence amongst team members (Carson, Tesluk, & Marrone, 2007). “To overcome com-
plexity and ambiguity, each member is required to influence other members, including leaders in
his or her specialized area. Therefore, shared leadership is particularly necessary for R&D
teams” (Ishikawa, 2012). In past researches, the positive effects of shared leadership on team
performance were examined; however, little or no attempts were made to fully understand the
backgrounds and qualifications of shared leadership (Pearce, Perry, and Sims, 1999). Today’s
ever-changing business environment demands that organizational leaders share leadership with
others with the goal of effective managing the organization. “In a world of unprecedented ad-
vancements in technology and new players entering the market at a disruptive pace – it is ex-
tremely difficult for one person to keep tabs on all that is happening” (Dolan, 2019).
In a 2012 book by David Weinberger, he referenced this subtitle “Too Big to Know: Re-
thinking Knowledge Now That the Facts Aren’t the Facts, Experts Are Everywhere, and the
Smartest Person in the Room Is the Room”, what the author was trying to convey was simple
knowledge; meaning if you as leader think you know it all, then you will definitely fail to realize
the full potential of your coworkers and subordinates. The author further lamented that “If you
are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room.” The idea of being the
smartest person in a gathering is absurd, each person in society have something of importance
that we all can learn from. The intent of this paper is to create analytical essay describing the sig-
, nificance of shared leadership and its benefits to overall organizational strategy while aligning it
to organizational direction. In any organizational setting, leaders and employees have a specific
area of expertise, which implies that other functions, expertise, or areas of the organization, those
organizational leaders and employees are not experts in those fields or subjects. Then, the ques-
tion becomes “how can one person or a leader know everything. It practically impossible.
Leadership Role in Shared Leadership
Often, when moving up the chain of command, the transition is somewhat difficult and
tedious process by itself. However, the transition is not based on what people know, rather it is
about the unknown with the aim of learning new processes. Weinberger (2012) asserted that “the
transition from subject matter expert to leader can often be a difficult and long process. But per-
haps the ongoing progression up the ladder is not based on what people know. Instead, it’s about
embracing what you don’t know, which is a different type of smarts.” It is important that leaders
know their role, which is to lead others with the goal of finding solutions to critical matters rather
thinking they know it all. With that in mind, such leaders lead their subjects in exemplary man-
ners, rising to the occasions or challenges while seeing things from a wider and communicative
standpoint (Dolan, 2019).
Shared Leadership Theory and Significance
Shared leadership is the sharing of leadership power’s and influence amongst team mem-
bers through the chain of command in upward and downward direction while decentralizing
management. The objective of shared leadership is leading one another with goal of achieving
organizational successes that supports the overall organizational strategy. “Shared leadership is
regarded as working out imaginative leadership inspiration based on the activity and dexterity
necessary for the activity. Shared leadership in modern organization is important because of its
potential to respond swiftly to decision making and performance within any given organization if
deployed properly” (Swati and Gupta, 2018).
“Smartest in the Room”
Barry Bland
California Intercontinental University
MGT610: Mastering Leadership
Introduction
Shared leadership is a developing team domain rising from the dissemination of leader-
ship influence amongst team members (Carson, Tesluk, & Marrone, 2007). “To overcome com-
plexity and ambiguity, each member is required to influence other members, including leaders in
his or her specialized area. Therefore, shared leadership is particularly necessary for R&D
teams” (Ishikawa, 2012). In past researches, the positive effects of shared leadership on team
performance were examined; however, little or no attempts were made to fully understand the
backgrounds and qualifications of shared leadership (Pearce, Perry, and Sims, 1999). Today’s
ever-changing business environment demands that organizational leaders share leadership with
others with the goal of effective managing the organization. “In a world of unprecedented ad-
vancements in technology and new players entering the market at a disruptive pace – it is ex-
tremely difficult for one person to keep tabs on all that is happening” (Dolan, 2019).
In a 2012 book by David Weinberger, he referenced this subtitle “Too Big to Know: Re-
thinking Knowledge Now That the Facts Aren’t the Facts, Experts Are Everywhere, and the
Smartest Person in the Room Is the Room”, what the author was trying to convey was simple
knowledge; meaning if you as leader think you know it all, then you will definitely fail to realize
the full potential of your coworkers and subordinates. The author further lamented that “If you
are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room.” The idea of being the
smartest person in a gathering is absurd, each person in society have something of importance
that we all can learn from. The intent of this paper is to create analytical essay describing the sig-
, nificance of shared leadership and its benefits to overall organizational strategy while aligning it
to organizational direction. In any organizational setting, leaders and employees have a specific
area of expertise, which implies that other functions, expertise, or areas of the organization, those
organizational leaders and employees are not experts in those fields or subjects. Then, the ques-
tion becomes “how can one person or a leader know everything. It practically impossible.
Leadership Role in Shared Leadership
Often, when moving up the chain of command, the transition is somewhat difficult and
tedious process by itself. However, the transition is not based on what people know, rather it is
about the unknown with the aim of learning new processes. Weinberger (2012) asserted that “the
transition from subject matter expert to leader can often be a difficult and long process. But per-
haps the ongoing progression up the ladder is not based on what people know. Instead, it’s about
embracing what you don’t know, which is a different type of smarts.” It is important that leaders
know their role, which is to lead others with the goal of finding solutions to critical matters rather
thinking they know it all. With that in mind, such leaders lead their subjects in exemplary man-
ners, rising to the occasions or challenges while seeing things from a wider and communicative
standpoint (Dolan, 2019).
Shared Leadership Theory and Significance
Shared leadership is the sharing of leadership power’s and influence amongst team mem-
bers through the chain of command in upward and downward direction while decentralizing
management. The objective of shared leadership is leading one another with goal of achieving
organizational successes that supports the overall organizational strategy. “Shared leadership is
regarded as working out imaginative leadership inspiration based on the activity and dexterity
necessary for the activity. Shared leadership in modern organization is important because of its
potential to respond swiftly to decision making and performance within any given organization if
deployed properly” (Swati and Gupta, 2018).
