±±¾©Èü³µpk10

Some of the most successful and innovative businesses have grown with little filter between the management and staff and, by extension, little separation between the consumer and the business.

At the heart of this shift is not another layer of bureaucracy or new management technique, but a recognition of the importance of leadership and an understanding that it empowers employees, whatever their level.

John Kotter, professor of leadership at Harvard University, has argued there are very few organisations today that have sufficient leadership. He writes: "At a certain point, we end up with over-managed and under-led organisations, which are increasingly vulnerable in a fast-moving world."

Compare and contrast the flabbiness of Kodak, with 140,000 employees in its heyday, and Instagram, one of a new breed of lean digital start-ups, which had just 13 employees when it was sold to Facebook for $1bn in 2012. It is almost inconceivable that not one of Kodak’s numerous staff predicted the rise of the smartphone camera; but perhaps the right people weren’t listening.

All too often, great ideas get drowned in middle-management and bureaucracy. Chief executives and chief marketing officers who can’t keep in touch with their own employees will never meet the fast-moving needs of consumers. Marketers have a great opportunity to bypass this to place themselves at the heart of their consumers’ and company’s networks.