• Host Leadership 19 February 2026 Martin Fowler agile team organization technical leadership If you’ve hung around agile circles for long, you’ve probably heard about the concept ofservant leadership, that managers should think of themselves as supporting the team, removing blocks, protecting them from the vagaries of corporate life. • That’s never sounded quite right to me, and a recent conversation with Kent Beck nailed why - it’s gaslighting. • The manager claims to be a servant, but everyone knows who really has the power. • My colleague Giles Edwards-Alexander told me about an alternative way of thinking about leadership, one that he came across working with mental-health professionals. • This casts the leader as a host: preparing a suitable space, inviting the team in, providing ideas and problems, and then stepping back to let them work. • The host looks after the team, rather as the ideal servant leader does, but still has the power to intervene should things go awry.

Article Summaries:

  • Bliki: Host Leadership

A February 2026 article discusses a shift from traditional servant leadership to a “host” model of leadership. The author notes that while servant leadership-where managers act as supporters-has been widely promoted, it can mask power dynamics. In a conversation with Kent Beck, the author argues that claiming to be a servant can be a form of gaslighting. An alternative, derived from mental‑health practice, positions the leader as a host: creating a supportive environment, inviting the team, offering ideas, and stepping back while retaining the ability to intervene if needed. The piece references Dr. Mark McKergow and Helen Bailey’s 2014 book and their HR Review article outlining six host‑leader engagement roles.

  • Summary

A new leadership model, “host leadership,” has been proposed as an alternative to the widely discussed servant‑leadership approach. The concept, highlighted in a recent conversation with Kent Beck, argues that servant leadership can be “gaslighting” because it masks the true power dynamics. Host leadership, inspired by mental‑health professionals, frames the leader as a host who prepares a supportive environment, invites the team, offers ideas and problems, and then steps back, intervening only when necessary. The model emphasizes the leader’s role in creating a suitable space while retaining the ability to intervene if things go wrong. Further details are available in a 2014 book by McKergow and Bailey, a hostleadership.com blog, and an HR Review article outlining six host‑leader engagement roles.

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