Decentralized Leadership Study

Principal Researchers:

Lisa Wocken (qualitative researcher - grounded theory)

Mr.Nobody (quantitative researcher - meta-analyses/systematic reviews)

Pancho (qualitative researcher - anthropological focus)

Purpose

Decentralization is not just about tech and information - it's also about distributing power and authority in our organizations. Sharing leadership is a key tenet of DAOs. Yet distributing leadership across members of a community is easier said than done: there are several instances of centralized leadership within the web3 ecosystem. For this reason there is a need to study leadership that enables building effective collaborative communities by investigating asymmetries of power, information, relationships, skills, reputation, money and time.

Goals and Key-Outcomes

• A point-of-view publication via Mirror based on secondary research about shared/distributed/decentralized/collective leadership practices informing qualitative-quantitative research questions for primary research.
• Evidence-based practices for DAOs on how to grow shared leadership to achieve a fair degree of decentralization, community involvement, and collective ownership.
• A peer-reviewed journal publication legitimizing DAO research and pioneering decentralized leadership in this emergent ecosystem.
• A practical guide for people shifting leadership mindset from Web2 context to Web3.

Status

• ~~Phase 1: Rapid review on leadership~~
• ~~Phase 2: Point-Of-View Mirror Publication~~
• P~~hase 3: DAOs specific literature review~~
• ~~Phase 4: Qualitative primary research - in-depth interviews~~
• Phase 5: Rigorous coding and analysis
• Phase 6: Initial findings & community feedback
• Phase 7: Findings reported