Leadership doesn't just start at the top. Leaders can also be found at the bottom of an organization and at just about every place in between. In this special report by Knowledge@Wharton and The McKinsey Quarterly, the management journal of consulting firm McKinsey & Co., experts from McKinsey and Wharton point out that regardless of whether people are on the top line or the front line, they should explore ways to exercise their leadership potential to the fullest. That is the only way in which they can create meaningful working lives for themselves and the organization can get the most from their efforts.
It is said that leadership starts at the top. This is often true, of course, but it is far from being the whole story. Leaders can also be found at the bottom of an organization and at just about every place in between.
Indeed, management experts at Wharton and McKinsey say that leadership can be found and must be practiced by employees at all levels of an organization. That is the only way in which an enterprise can get the most from managers and employees alike, achieve its strategic goals, fulfill the personal career aspirations of its people, and lay the groundwork for identifying and developing future leaders, including those who may eventually serve at the highest levels. A payroll clerk who recommends a way to streamline the process of cutting a check is demonstrating leadership -- given the parameters of his or her place in an organization -- in the same way as a CEO who is launching an initiative to transform a corporation.
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