Beyond the Boss: Leadership Lessons Inspired by Indigenous Societies

In a world often obsessed with hierarchy, titles, and fancy offices, it’s easy to forget that leadership doesn’t always have to mean absolute command and control in all scenarios.  Indigenous leadership provides a useful example.

With several members of the Sabre team having backgrounds in history, archaeology, and anthropology, it’s not unusual for our conversations to drift toward how leadership dynamics have shaped civilisations, and how collaboration has allowed some to thrive, while more toxic approaches have led others to collapse.

Through our work with a range of Australian Indigenous organisations, we’ve also had the privilege of hearing their perspectives on the models and tools we use, such as the Belbin Model. These exchanges are always enlightening and deeply grounding.

It raises a fascinating question: what kind of leadership enabled Australia’s Indigenous peoples to endure and flourish as the world’s longest continuous culture?

Long before modern theories of leadership and management, Indigenous societies across Australia had already mastered a form of leadership that was adaptive, shared, and profoundly human, offering lessons that today’s organisations could learn much from.

Wisdom and Consensus Before Hierarchy

For at least 60,000 years, Australian Aboriginal societies thrived across some of the most challenging environments on Earth without the need for rigid, inherited, and formal hierarchies or chiefs that we often associate with most civilisations. 

For decades, researchers and scholars have observed these fascinating aspects of indigenous leadership.

Leadership was not a fixed position, but a situational responsibility, a role that emerged naturally through experience, wisdom, and contributions to the group’s well-being. ¹

Decision-making was collective, requiring consensus and diplomacy rather than command and control. Different people stepped forward to lead at various times: the skilled hunter on the hunt, the wise storyteller in ceremony, or the “clever man” during spiritual ritual. ²

This fluid, situational leadership ensured resilience, inclusion, and balance. Power was seen as something to be shared, not hoarded. These societies also maintained egalitarian norms through systems of “demand sharing,” where resources were distributed to maintain harmony and prevent the accumulation of power or coercive dominance. ³

Elders who would assume a leadership role in a particular situation held respect because of their knowledge and moral authority in that realm, not because of power or privilege. ⁴

The ethos of ‘service above self’ comes to mind here, where a team will prioritise control of individual egos and genuine psychological safety within the team over outward signs of power and status.

Leadership as a Rotating Responsibility

Imagine if modern organisations more often adopted such an approach, recognising that leadership can, and often should, shift according to context and task. The most effective leaders today are not always those with the highest rank, but those best suited to guide their teams through a specific challenge or project.

That’s where models like Belbin Team Roles become invaluable. Belbin helps identify not just who leads, but how they lead — whether as a Co-ordinator who helps to bring balance and clarity to a project, a Shaper who drives momentum in a crisis, or a Plant who inspires creative breakthroughs where innovation is needed. By understanding the natural strengths of individuals, teams can consciously rotate leadership roles to suit the situation.  

For example, a team tackling an innovation project might be led initially by a creative Plant or Resource Investigator, while a looming, tight deadline may call for a driven Shaper or Implementer to take the helm. Once the challenge passes, leadership can move again, ensuring everyone contributes their best, without ego or stagnation.  

From Command to Custodianship

The Indigenous model also serves to remind us that true leadership is about custodianship and taking care of people, land, and purpose. In the world of modern organisations, this translates to creating environments where adaptability, control of ego, psychological safety, respect, and shared accountability allow teams to thrive.

By rotating leadership and aligning it with Belbin’s evidence-based insights, organisations can rediscover a style of leadership that is agile, inclusive, and sustainable — one that echoes the maturity and balance of those who lead by wisdom, not title.

Talan Miller, Managing Director, Sabre Corporate Development and Belbin Australia, November 2025

References

1. Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.). Australian Aboriginal social organisation. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com

2. Elkin, A. P. (1977). Aboriginal men of high degree: Initiation and sorcery in the world’s oldest tradition (2nd ed.). St. Lucia, QLD: University of Queensland Press.

3. Peterson, N. (1993). Demand sharing: Reciprocity and the pressure for generosity among foragers. American Anthropologist, 95(4), 860–874.

4. Australian National University Press. (2021). Evolution of research into Indigenous leadership. In Researching Leadership in Aboriginal Communities (Chapter 2). ANU Press.

Further Reading

Aritzeta, A., Swailes, S., & Senior, B. (2007). Belbin’s Team Role Model: Development, validity and applications for team building. Journal of Management Studies, 44(1), 96–118.

García-Cabrera, A. M., & García-Soto, M. G. (2021). Team formation on the basis of Belbin’s roles to enhance performance. Computers in Human Behaviour Reports, 3, 100056.

Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (1930). The social organisation of Australian tribes. Oceania Monographs (No. 1). Sydney University Press.