I like the distinctions you made and I think it gets at something that I think separates the 'good' part of hierarchies with the 'bad'. You can't have a big or

I like the distinctions you made and I think it gets at something that I think separates the 'good' part of hierarchies with the 'bad'. You can't have a big organization without some people whose job it is to think at higher levels of abstraction, or to manage communication channels You need the structure of an organization with managers and executives just so everyone isn't always talking to everyone else. But I think of my manager as an equal with unique expertise in understanding how my work fits in with the rest of the organization. It's not that I can't know those things, but thats one of his dedicated responsibilities. Likewise I don't always have to think about what to communicate to which exec/director. So there's structure there, but we each have a similar vote on the team. The one are where I'd question a value of anti-hierarchy is expediency in breaking ties. I tie breaker seems to be expressing power, not just adding structure or playing a role.