We always talk a good game about the concept of Servant Leadership in agile contexts. But I have a hypothetical thought experiment for you. What if…
There was a relatively small or mature start-up company;
Where the founders were developers or individual contributors;
They hired a leadership team to “run” the company, but maintained primary ownership;
The founders are still actively on the board and guiding overall strategy;
But they simply enjoyed the product innovation and creation process associated with being a team member.
Now, as time goes on, these folks simply blend into the woodwork of the “teams”.