In this external blog, an opinion post written by Deborah Aarts, she argues that being the ‘lone wolf’ leader in an organization can ultimately be detrimental to the business and for the leader him-/herself. A lone wolf leader refers to a leader that is usually the only person at the top of the hierarchy within the business, with his/her vision dominating the organization. Aarts specifically make a point of having a partner when starting a business and leading the firm, drawing on successful examples such as Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Apple and Mike Lazaridis and Jim Basillie of Blackberry.

I agree with Aart’s point of view since, as the business grows larger, it is certainly more difficult to unite the visions of all stakeholders to ensure that the business is going in the direction the leader wants. However, I do believe that such ‘lone wolf leadership’ is quite necessary in the early stages of a business. A partner may not necessarily have the same goals and visions for the business. This may result in sending mix signals about the directions of the business to its stakeholders, more importantly, to its employees and leading to an inefficient and ineffective business. The drive and the sole focus of a goal embodied by an individual may be more powerful and motivating than a partnership during the conception of a start-up, especially when it comes to transferring the same determination to the firm’s employees.

Yet, like the author mentioned, as the business grows it must adapt and should change the ‘lone wolf leadership’ style, primarily due to the aforementioned reason. The idea that the ‘lone wolf leadership’ style may be toxic in a large corporation, I believe, was reflected by Zappo’s decision to convert to a ‘holacratic’ corporate culture, whereby there are no job titles and no managers. Indeed, it is true that bureaucracy can sometimes hurt the business, and Zappos is avoiding that problem by becoming a holacracy where each employee has responsibilities, adds values to the firm, and a great amount of flexibility. All these factors, I believe, can actually unite employees under the same vision as they are empowered.

http://www.profitguide.com/manage-grow/leadership/the-dangers-of-lone-wolf-leadership-70801

http://qz.com/161210/zappos-is-going-holacratic-no-job-titles-no-managers-no-hierarchy/