The only reason that we don’t have more of a world where those closest to the work/job/project have the most direct say about it is a history of patriarchal stratification. I get that in directing something that involves human lives on a large scale, some hierarchy is probably a good thing, but I worked for many years in an organization where the “head whatever” was essentially the point person and a first-among-equals practitioner, not a manager in the conventional sense, and it worked great until too many hierarchical bureaucrats came in and effed it up. And that’s the reason that many businesses are heading in this direction — less bureaucracy is a lot more agile.

I also went to high school with the man who led the unsuccessful Tora Bora mission to capture Bin Laden. In the book he wrote about it, Kill Bin Laden, it was pretty clear that the main reason the mission was unsuccessful is that too many up the chain people got involved; people who weren’t on the scene/on the ground and didn’t have the first hand knowledge and finger on the pulse of the situation that he and his Delta team had.

I’m not saying this can transform overnight. I’m saying that there enough examples of how it works well that we can keep heading in that direction if we so choose.