In a world of speed, busyness, and information overload, it is easy to accept the claims of 'experts' rather than thinking for ourselves.

What if we tried to maintain a picture of the whole organisation and focus on the interaction between the background and foreground systems? We could see the texture (the fine weave) of how people, work, and organisation interact.

Leadership and management in a network might be defined as an ensemble of actors that, at their best, perform in harmony according to each actor's particular functional skills and competence. The leadership team is seen as a whole, and individual leaders and managers as its part.

Attentiveness and care in exercising leadership does not feature in modern leadership theory and practice. Indeed, just the opposite. Modern leaders are told to be out-front, directing, planning, controlling, results-driven, and outcome-focused. What if we thought about leadership as a light touch?