Rewriting the Narrative of Project Management

It is the distorted arrangements between power and rationalism that have allowed the myth of Heroic Leadership to continue in our projects. Heroic Leadership was an invention of history; one typically used to justify the rapaciousness of ambitious individuals. Our histories told us that it was only such Great Men that could lead us safely out of the quagmire and march us forward to the promised land. That this was ever the case is highly doubtful. Despite this, the myth has persisted in our organisations and government institutions in a perverse form, as those with titles, but little genuine power embrace the trappings of the Heroic Leader in a vain attempt to convince us that all will be well. These False Heroes can be identified through their irrationalism, disorganisation, and pettiness. Ditching the myth of Heroic Leadership for a concept of Followership allows us to embrace models of work-practice that are as old as humanity itself. Small groups, with a highly specific purpose, and the tools, authority, and autonomy to achieve that purpose. This demands the putting aside of ego for a commitment to genuine collaboration and inevitably sees the rise of genuine, as opposed to heroic, leadership.