DAO Leadership - Part 2

What's the role of Leadership within a DAO?

Leadership in Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) is a topic of much discussion in the Web 3.0 space. On January 19, 2023, over a dozen seasoned experts gathered on a Twitter Space to discuss their experiences and perspectives on leadership within DAOs. The discussion touched on several important topics, including the role of leadership in reinforcing organizational values and operations, the importance of nonviolent communication principles, and the need to recognize different forms of leadership.

Part-1 of this discussion can be found here. This article is Part-2 of the Twitter Space summary. Continuing from Part-1…

KiftDAO emphasized the importance of establishing leadership that understands the organization's values and how it operates. While decentralization is important, leadership plays a crucial role in providing clear direction for key decisions. In instances where a leader's style or approach doesn't align with the community's needs, KiftDAO values rehabilitation over rejection. They use non-violent communication principles to have honest conversations with the person in a leadership position, observe specific behaviors or feelings, and check in with the person to see what's going on.

Arvin Khamesh highlighted the importance of integrity and responsibility in leadership. A leader is not just someone who is capable of doing something, but someone who is responsible for everything that happens within the organization. In contrast, organizations where people think that the person above them is responsible tend to be less effective. For Arvin, the conversation around leadership needs to focus on the integrity and responsibility of individuals rather than just their title.

Grace talked about the need to recognize different forms of leadership, including hidden leadership. The person who supports the leader and facilitates things may not receive recognition, but their contributions cause the organization to move forward. Grace also emphasized the need to create a flow within organizations where people move around to where they're needed, like a natural system.

Mel.eth stressed the importance of nonviolent communication as a form of gift-giving. Every conversation should provide information, and leaders should create a positive and constructive dialogue. Mel.eth also highlighted the need for guardianship within DAOs to protect the organization and its people, but acknowledged that tokenomic structures can sometimes incentivize people to act in ways that don't align with nonviolent communication.

Starpause talked about the importance of tangible documentation on how to contribute and what is valuable in a DAO. Guidelines like a code of conduct can help navigate difficulties, and documentation can help new members get up to speed quickly and departing members leave a positive legacy. Developing leaders within a DAO is organic, and it's the people who consistently show up and provide valuable contributions that end up rising to leadership positions.

Schlomo emphasized the importance of safe curation of ideas and moments. It's okay not to have everyone making decisions about every moment that gets actualized in the DAO. Leadership can be enabled by finding people who want to do more and enabling them to become curators of various parts. Once you start getting these low-level things, people want to do more and become part of the community. That's how you enable leadership in DAOs.

Overall, the discussion on leadership in DAOs emphasized the importance of integrity, responsibility, nonviolent communication, and recognizing different forms of leadership. While decentralization is important, leadership plays a crucial role in providing clear direction and reinforcing organizational values and operations. Developing leaders within a DAO is organic, and it's the people who consistently show up and provide valuable contributions that end up rising to leadership positions.

Andrew from Oragami explained that true leadership is about having a long-term vision and funding to avoid short-sighted decisions. They also highlighted the importance of taking leadership seriously and not taking on members who don't share this vision.

Matai, a member of the Kift DAO crew, shared their perspective on many DAOs being labeled as scams in Web3. They firmly believe that there are amazing builders in this space who are looking to create game-changing technology to empower and uplift people. Matai talked about the culture of collaboration in Web3 and how it ties into leadership. He also mentioned the concept of nested DAOs, which is a great way for DAOs to collaborate and work together. Matai encouraged everyone to find joy and happiness in their work and help uplift and empower others, which is the true essence of leadership in Web3.

Bubz shared her approach to handling conflicts within CultDAO. She emphasized the importance of having a code of conduct document that all members can uphold themselves to, which emphasizes being respectful and kind. Bubz also talked about their approach to non-dual consensus building, which is an approach to handle disagreements within a DAO when people have different polarizing ideologies. They highlighted the importance of rehabilitation for those who have done wrong against the DAO.

Matai responded to Bubz's perspective on consensus approach and talked about the importance of non-violent communication to understand each other's feelings and address the issue to avoid future controversies. Matai shared how KiftDAO has weekly house meetings where they allow people to voice their concerns, share how they feel, and express what they would like to see in the future. They also encourage their members to have one-on-one conversations and are starting non-violent communication training workshops.

Lastly, I tossed in my own opinions into the mix. I mentioned one of the things I used to do in my past companies was to be vulnerable and ask for full, honest feedback. When listening to feedback, it’s critical to just shut up and listen, don’t interrupt, don’t even breath until all the feedback has been provided. Then the most important next step is to integrate the feedback given and show that you've incorporated it the next time you meet that person. Repeat this process on-going as a critical step to building a strong team dynamic, a respectful environment, and a collaborative feel that creates a force to be reckoned with when obstacles arise.

Overall, the conversation on leadership in DAOs highlighted the importance of having a long-term vision, a culture of collaboration, a code of conduct document, non-dual consensus building, non-violent communication, and vulnerability and feedback. As a leader in Web3, it's essential to empower and uplift others and create a safe space for tough conversations while holding ourselves to high standards of diversity and inclusion.

In conclusion, I encourage everyone to continue collaborating and innovating in Web3 while keeping in mind the values of true leadership. Thank you to all the members of our community for sharing your perspectives and ideas, and I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together.

If the ideas and discussions presented in this article have stimulated your mind and you would like to delve deeper into this subject, I encourage you to Join the next Twitter Space discussion or send me a DM and I’ll make sure to include you. These discussions are created with the aim of facilitating a safe and supportive environment where we can share our knowledge and insights, and collaborate to find the best paths for us to navigate the rapidly changing world around us. I believe that we are all in this together and that we can all benefit from each other's experiences and intellect. So come join us in the next Twitter Space, raise your hand, and let's have a productive and engaging conversation about DAO leadership and the future of decentralized organizations.