Leadership without leaders

A couple of years ago I was in a meeting with worthies from the corporate world discussing the setting up of a leadership institute. I nearly fell off the chair when one of them suggested that a leadership institute must have strewn around one-man stages from which future leaders can declaim to followers! Must not blame the worthies though. We have all been fed a notion of leadership that derives from the culture of the army. A culture that of necessity practices top down leadership. But in this 24x7, deeply networked world isn't the notion of leaders and followers so yesterday? We need leadership not leaders. We need leadership from everyone not just the few who like standing on podiums to declaim. Because leadership is about having the ability to nurture a vision and communicate it. Leadership is about keeping it simple in complex situations. Leadership is about seeking to enable others. Leadership is many things and all of them are not to be sought in a few but in all. As a closing thought wouldn't a leadership institute flourish if it positioned leadership as a quality to be promoted in everybody rather than the bailiwick of the few? Why am I not surprised when I find that the worthies mentioned in paragraph one are today in deepening trouble as business people and managers?