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The business world has a fascination with ‘hero’ leaders. From visionary founders to CEOs who transform fading fortunes, these charismatic figures at the top are held responsible for solving problems and growing companies. This reflects how leadership has looked for decades, if not centuries, with a focus on strong, decisive individuals driving things forward through force of will and personality. 

Modern business, however, demands something more and something different. Crisis management and innovation are now a permanent backdrop; the pace of change and the level of competition make it incredibly difficult for a lone wolf to lead the way. Our research explores an alternative, making the case that leadership is actually relational; something individuals can practise and improve, building towards a more effective style that centres a collaborative vision grounded in trust and human connection. 

The limits of leading alone 

Leadership is, in simple terms, the process of influencing others towards a goal. An individual might possess every trait society associates with leaders, but unless the people around them engage with them and effectively grant them that role, no actual leadership will take place. Framing leaders as solo heroes overlooks this, at a cost.  

When one person at the top takes all the credit, others can start to question the decision-making process or feel a lack of ownership over decisions. Solo leaders also risk surrounding themselves with ‘yes people’ who fall in with their views and fail to challenge them, closing themselves off from honest conversations. The lone wolf therefore risks losing the trust that research shows drives sustained high performance as opposed to a short-term boost. 

Leadership happens between people 

Relational leadership rests on three core concepts: no leader is a leader on their own; leadership exists in the relationship between leaders and those around them; and leaders operate within a wider system of stakeholders, from suppliers to customers to competitors. 

In this view, the central relationship is constantly being shaped and reshaped, through a leader’s words, body language and choices. We’ve all been in meetings where a single remark from a leader either energises the room or leaves it tense. 

Working with this reality, rather than against it, can pay real dividends in a world of constant change. When established ways of doing things no longer work, leaders can struggle to make sense of things alone; they need to co-create meaning with those around them, from their own teams to the customers, partners and suppliers they rely on, building a shared understanding of what is happening and how to respond to it.  

Relational leaders also draw more from differences. Much of what we call collaboration is actually coordination. Genuine collaboration, however, means understanding what each person brings to the table and leveraging those differences to reach the desired outcome.  

Of course, none of this means leaders should or can give up accountability; they remain responsible in line with their position and status. The difference is that their decisions are informed by collective input, which in turn earns them legitimacy and trust with the broader circle of stakeholders they answer to. 

Putting relational leadership into practice 

A central aspect of our view of leadership is that, far from being an innate trait possessed by a chosen few, it is something that can be learned. Relational leadership is like a muscle that grows stronger through repeated exercise. For leaders looking to work more relationally, we recommend focusing on three areas: trust, collaboration and human connection. 

Trust: 

• Follow through on commitments, even small ones, to build ‘micro-trust’ over time. 
• Be transparent, explaining not just what decisions you’ve made but also how you reached them.  
• Be vulnerable; don’t pretend fear and uncertainty aren’t there, but rather lead through them by naming what you don’t know and what’s making you uneasy. 

Collaboration: 

• Move from debates, where it’s all about who wins, to dialogue that genuinely weighs up the options. 
• Be comfortable with divergence of input and hold space for it, rather than rushing to decisions. 
• Involve others in making sense of change, so that decisions are shaped together from a base of shared understanding.

Human connection: 

• Make deliberate time for relationships, taking an interest in colleagues’ lives (without intruding). 
• Schedule coffee chats, walk around the office, and learn people’s names in order to see them as more than just faces in an online call. 
• Seek views from people at all levels of the hierarchy, not just senior staff, to get a real feel for the organisation’s culture. 

Over time, these small, deliberate choices become a relational practice, and a reminder that the most effective leaders are those who know not to go it alone.