One Bold Black Line.

''Maybe if you played something like you used to when you played that song, you might like it again? Things might be better if you do it the way you used to?'

'But why?  Why do they want that? Why would I want to do that?'

'Well, that's you. You're the one who wrote the song, and did it that way, and it was great.'

'Yeah, but why would I want to do that? Why, when I've aready done it?'

Until that moment I'd never quite understood Miles Davis; his deliberate dissection of form. His insistence on playing one long note, or turning his back to the audience. in the same way I had a hard time appreciating contemporary artists like Mondrian, who painted one perfect black line across a canvas and called it a day.

But, sitting there with my old friend Peter Green, all of it made sense to me, and it has ever since. It was almost too much to bear. Peter had been so far ahead, he'd done all of what the rest of us had considered the only thing to do. He'd done all that could be done within the confines of structure so expertly that the only thing that made sense to him anymore was one bold black line on a blank page.'

- Mick Fleetwood in his autobiography Play On, recalling a conversation with co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, and 'best guitarist ever' Peter Green.

Leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership...blah, blah, blah.

Everyone's wanting leadership.

Really?

Leaders like Peter Green, Miles Davis or Mondrian?

The workplace won't tolerate the equivalent of the one black line worker.

Step outside the confines of structure in your job and you step into a one way conversation with your line manager assisted by a representative from HR.

Despite the leadership talk in organisations, they are inherently hostile to it. The workplace can't accommodate lots of people doing their own thing. It doesn't 'scale'. It's too chaotic and unmanageable. It's a threat to those in power.

The person who breaks structure, by definition breaks the organisation.

The person who plays one long note, or turns their back on the audience, or paints a single brush stroke - tends not to attract followers. Clients. Investors. Promotion.

They also rely on the First Follower if their rebellion is to evolve into Leadership.

Organisations and the people in them who call for more Leadership should be careful for what they wish for.

And know that - like Peter Green - anoint the rebel as Leader and she'll probably quit the band.

If she's not already been sacked.