The Workings of Simurgh Metaphor in Distributed Leadership

Abstract

This article offers an organizational metaphor based on an Iranian epic Manteq-o-Teyr or The Logic of Flight. The metaphor is shaped by the story of a wise hoopoe bird whose dream was to reach a mountain called Qaf and find the great king of birds called Simurgh or Thirty Birds. The new enlightenment resonated with the Conference of the Birds, captures the idea of why and how leader and followers should connect their consciousness to each other to achieve a higher level of wisdom, mythically called Simurgh. The story communicates a metaphor that works in favor of explaining organizational components such as design, structure, environment, and boundaries in a distributed style of leadership as practiced by the hoopoe and his follower birds as a community of practice through collective wisdom.