In a post reviewing a new book called Herd, Sean Howard asks why we focus on the so-called influencers or celebrities as role models and leaders instead of realizing that “the reality is we follow the majority and we follow our friends.”  Holger cites an article on Swarm Theory to show that there may be no leaders, but each bee simply copies the behavior of the neighbor. And as Sean writes: “[F]rom this simple copying emerge complex systems or ecologies of behavior.”

Along the same logic, Lewis Wolpert, Emeritus Professor in Cell and Developmental Biology at UCL, insists in the BBC’s The Forum,  that cells do just fine without a command structure, suggesting this seemingly chaotic principle of organizing does not just apply to bee or ant colonies, or human herds, but that it is the fundamental principle of building any complex system, including human beings.

Does this mean that anyone can be the leader at different times, or that there are simply no leaders?