Duncan Watts’ blog entry, What Are Leaders Really For, provided an in-depth analysis on the role leadership plays in any social change as inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The blog entry is very extensive in its coverage of the topic and packed with information that I found both educational and interesting.

Duncan argued that in stark contrast to popular belief, leaders are not “the source of social change.” However, their presence is necessary as storytelling has always been our way to grasp the world and it is rather difficult to tell a story without focal actors around whom to center the action.

In the case of OWS, by refusing to name a leader, the familiar personality-centric narrative is absent, leaving us at a loss to process what “it” is. Therefore, in order to be taken seriously, the movement must first change to reflect what we expect from serious organizations, namely a leader to whom we can attribute everything. This transition is likely to happen in the near future as a result of its growth. Eventually, some form of hierarchy, which by nature requires a leader, will become necessary due to its increasingly diverse activities.