Welcome to "Navigating Leadership," an eight-part series of articles and videos by Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret), Vice Chair of Global Affairs at Carlyle. Drawing from his 37-year naval career, including his role as Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, Admiral Stavridis shares key leadership insights and wisdom for today’s increasingly complex and changing world. Subscribe here to be notified of future editions.

History, mythology, and folklore all resonate with stories about kings as all-powerful leaders of their people. Some are good, some are evil, but all seem to be isolated in their castles or palaces, surrounded by advisors telling them what’s going on outside.

That leadership model may have worked when change was slow and news traveled at a snail’s pace, but today’s leaders need to navigate a fast-moving environment and respond swiftly with updated strategies. To achieve this, modern leadership benefits from a neural-network approach to intelligence and strategizing—collaborative and adaptive—than from traditional command-and-control methods.

“Too often leaders decide, ‘I'm the only one who can come up with the brilliant ideas about how our organization moves forward.’ That's a mistake. No one of us is as smart as all of us thinking together.”

Those familiar with information technology can see distributed intelligence in action on the internet, where the power of individual computers is linked to allow all users to share information. This contrasts with the old model, where multiple terminals connected to a single central processor that handled all computing tasks. A real-world analogy from today can be found in Ukraine, whose army utilizes a decentralized strategy where there is no command-and-control center that orchestrates every action for Ukraine's military forces. Instead, decisions are made at the lowest level, providing self-sustaining units capable of conducting attacks.[1]

Allow me to cite several advantages of a neural-network approach to strategy and some suggestions for leaders when employing it:

1. Expanding what the organization knows

A leader depends on their team for information. But information should not just flow up and down an organization; it should flow laterally among team members and colleagues. For instance, if a salesperson discovers a successful client acquisition strategy in their region, sharing this knowledge with peers enables others to try it as well. In return, that salesperson is likely to receive valuable insights from colleagues, creating a beneficial exchange.

2. Seeing things from different perspectives

Most of us are familiar with the concept of a “devil’s advocate”—someone who takes a contrarian view of a theory or strategy to reveal potential flaws and weaknesses. While this can be a helpful way to challenge one’s perspective, an even more effective approach is to incorporate other’s viewpoints when developing strategies. Everyone sees things differently, and these varied perspectives can become highly impactful when aligned towards a common goal. Bringing together a wide range of insights strengthens strategies, making them far more effective than those developed by an individual alone.

3. Discovering patterns others may not see

Successful networks are reciprocal; members both give and receive information to support better decision-making. For leaders, this requires active listening and genuine openness to what others share. It also involves critically assessing new information, regardless of how it was presented. Avoid the temptation to dismiss information that seems trivial or unimportant—instead, look for reoccurring patterns across situations and team members. As a leader, you are the connective tissue within your team, a role that often means looking beyond individual situations to identify underlying causes or patterns behind issues.

4. Gaining a first-mover advantage

Receiving information from across your team creates a valuable feedback loop that becomes an advantage over time. As information flows up, down, and across the organization, leaders can more easily pivot and adjust strategies—much more effectively than in a traditional top-down leadership model. Teams that detect change early and move with agility gain a strategic edge, regardless of the environment.

5. Developing psychological safety

Leaders who embrace this neural-network approach foster psychological safety within their teams. People want to be heard and valued, and creating an environment where employees freely share information with each other—and with their leader—signals that their opinions matter. Colleagues feel comfortable passing along insights and acting on shared information because they trust both their team and their leader. Building this trust and cultivating an environment where people feel safe sharing their perspectives is a leader’s responsibility; it involves looking past honest mistakes and recognizing hard work and genuine effort.

Today’s fast-changing world requires the ability to assess change and the agility to effect it. My experience has taught me that networked teams are far more nimble, resourceful, and intelligent than hierarchical models. Their adaptability and insight make them well worth exploring.

Until next time, Godspeed and open water in your own leadership voyage.

[1] Institute for Future Conflict, September 11, 2024, “Pivotal Lessons from the War in Ukraine: The Value of Decentralized Command and Control”

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