Leadership by actually leading

Contrary to the organizational heirarchy based leadership, where employees are 'led' by a boss assigned to them, I think knowledge based industries require a different structure.

The org based leadership works well for management of low skilled staff where they can taught to respect heirarchy but in a knowledge industry, leadership should be rather 'assumed' by being the best of the lot in terms of technical knowledge or skill.

In a knowledge industry, what matters is whether you are able to solve a technical problem or not. The engineer has to find a solution using his own creativity. Having the best management laid processes does not help in getting the best solution.

Therefore, the person who constantly delivers the best solutions will be the natural leader irrespective of designation. 

I think having that framework, is the one of the best things about my own project.