The forces of globalization and collaboration have presented a challenge to the traditional notions of leadership. How does leadership happen when there are many leaders trying to reach a goal and no clear followers? And what does leadership look like when no one person is in charge? In The Deep Blue Sea, Wilfred Drath responds to these challenges by presenting a new leadership framework called "relational leadership." His revolutionary approach recasts the idea of leadership as a group function that results in self-organized entities. Using the story of a fictional piano company, Drath helps us understand why this new notion of leadership is needed to face the challenges of the 21st century. A Center For Creative Leadership Book If whitecaps are the individual leaders within organizations, then the deep blue sea is the rest of us--that vast foundation often obscured beneath the whitecaps but the very foundation that makes them possible. This is the central metaphor of this book, which posits that, in our age of multiple backgrounds and meanings, the image of the leader as a single, dominant figure--or even as someone who knows how to cultivate and wield the most influence--must broaden to encompass many people sharing leadership across perspectives to reach common goals. That idea is expanded upon here, interspersed with the fictional tale of the changing of the guard at the Zoffner Piano Company, which illustrates the book's main points. If Drath's idea seems sound to the point of dullness, that's perhaps because it has been, in some incarnation or another, the crux of every new book about leadership for the past 10 years: the age of the single, great lone leader has passed into a new age where dialogue, collaboration, and cross-perspectives are more important than ever. With its quasi-academic language, The Deep Blue Sea , doesn't really add to that lot, and moreover, it lacks the real-life examples from major companies that give so many books of this sort their kick. It's not a must-read, but for anyone determined to read absolutely whatever they can on the topic of 21st-century leadership, it certainly won't hurt--and the story about the daughter who inherits the reins of Zoffner Piano from her benevolent-ruler father and then has to reinvent the rules of leadership to keep the company alive is actually quite compelling in its quaint, family-business fashion. -- Timothy Murphy "Bill Drath takes us out along the frontiers of leadership theory and gives us a new and even courageous answer to the age-old question: who is the leader and who are the led? A great read for those who want to move beyond ordinary thinking about leadership." (Jack Galvin, former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (NATO) and Commander-in-Chief U.S. European Command) "A penetrating analysis of the roots of leadership from one of the most original thinkers in the field." (David K. Hurst, speaker, writer, and consultant on management and author of Crisis and Renewal: Meeting the Challenge of Organizational Change) "Changes forever the way we look at and consider leadership. The magnitude of Bill Drath's contribution is only realized when you start to ask yourself what are the implications of relational leadership on how we develop leaders, evolve organization strategy, and drive change?" (Steve Mostyn, Senior Program Manager, Motorola University EMEA) "A penetrating analysis of the roots of leadership from one of the most original thinkers in the field." --David K. Hurst, speaker, writer, and consultant on management and author of Crisis and Renewal: Meeting the Challenge of Organizational Change "Bill Drath takes us along the frontiers of leadership theory and gives us a new and even courageous answer to the age-old question: who is the leader and who are the led? A great read for those who want to move beyond ordinary thinking about leadership." --Jack Galvin, former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (NATO) and Commander-in-Chief US European Command "Changes forever the way we look at and consider 'leadership'. The magnitude of Bill Drath's contribution is only realized when you start to ask yourself 'what are the implications of relational leadership on how we develop leaders, evole organizational strategy, and drive change?" --Steve Mostyn, Senior Program Manager, Motorola University EMEA "A penetrating analysis of the roots of leadership from one of the most original thinkers in the field."--David K. Hurst, speaker, writer, and consultant on management and author of Crisis and Renewal: Meeting the Challenge of Organizational Change "Bill Drath takes us along the frontiers of leadership theory and gives us a new and even courageous answer to the age-old question: who is the leader and who are the led? A great read for those who want to move beyond ordinary thinking about leadership."--Jack Galvin, former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (NATO) and Commander-in-Chief US European Command "Changes forever the way we look