This is a brilliant book that explains the circumstances in which victory goes to “leaderless organisations” – that is, organisations based on individuals pursuing voluntary preferences, rather than those that use coercion and hierarchical authority to enforce desired action. The authors explain that top-down organisations (symbolised by the spider, a centrally-controlled creature) flourish under economies of scale, when innovation is less important than efficiency and productivity. In contrast, leaderless organisations (symbolised by the starfish, a decentralised creature) flourish when innovation (in hi-tech) or surprise (in military strategy) is more important than focused power.To explain further, a spider has a centralised nervous system, so that, if it loses a leg, the handicap will remain, whereas the starfish has a decentralised nervous system, so that walking requires a peer-to-peer communication between the legs, and if one limb is cut off, the body will grow another, and the leg will grow a complete body.The starfish thus symbolises peer-to-peer human networks through which flows an inspirational ideal in accordance with which individuals tend to act voluntarily. The book described the Apache Native American tribe, which had no central organisation, but defeated the Spanish colonists because the Apaches had no central figures or infrastructure to capture, and their will to fight was shared culturally without coercion. Thus, individuals sprang up in response to Spanish outrages, and inspired others to fight locally, thus always maintaining the element of surprise.The principle of voluntary organisation within a human network is now becoming more familiar in fields such as politics, and in modern technology. The large, rigid, hierarchies that dominated early capitalism are now fading away, and being replaced by groups of individuals in peer-to-peer networking.The book describes many, many examples of “starfish” organisations that defeated government regulations, or large industrial organisations, but rather than quoting examples, I will list some of the “rules of the game” that typify leaderless organisations.Rule 1. Dis-economies of scale (Skype v. ATT).Rule 2. The network effect. It used to cost millions to create a significant network effect, for many starfish organisations, the cost has gone down to zero. eBay is an example.Rule 3. The power of chaos. Starfish organisations are wonderful incubators for creative, destructive, innovations, or crazy ideas. Where creativity is valuable, learning to accept chaos is a must.Rule 4, Knowledge at the edge. In starfish organisations, knowledge is spread throughout the staff. People on the front line know what’s going on. Open source software and Wikipedia are examples.Rule 5. Everyone wants to contribute. People contribute to Wikipedia, and to Intuit’s TaxAlmanac.org. Users contribute reviews to Amazon, and engineers stay up at night writing code free for Apache server software.Rule 6. Beware the hydra response from Greek mythology, in which beheading the hydra caused it to immediately grow two new heads. The starfish has similar power, because there is no head to cut off, and each cut limb regrows. The Spanish learned the hard way, fighting the Apaches. When the record companies destroyed Napster, it was replaced by Kazaa and eMule that were more decentralised and difficult to defeat.Rule 7. Catalysts rule. Starfish have no CEO. Instead, people known as ‘catalysts’ initiate and persuade only. When the Spanish fought the Apaches, they looked for a leader such as Montezuma to kill, but found only independent individuals called ‘Nant’ans’, who inspired local attacks then disappeared. Mary Poppins similarly disappeared after serving each family in the Hollywood movie.Rule 8. The values are the organisation. Ideology is the fuel that drives the decentralised organisation. The Animals Liberation Front, (ALF), is so decentralised that it is hard to fight legally. Granville Sharp helped abolish slavery through inspiration alone, although we forget his name, because he was not a public leader. The peer-to-peer organisation called ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ has achieved worldwide success, without any central organisation at all.Rule 9. Measure, monitor and manage. When measuring a starfish organisation, it’s better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong. When we monitor a starfish organisation, we ask about its health, whether it’s growing or spreading, becoming more or less centralised. Catalysts connect people and maintain the drumbeat of the ideology.Rule 10. Flatten or be flattened. We can fight a starfish by changing an ideology or centralising its organisation. But it may be easier to join them if you cannot beat them. Some modern organisations are hybrids, making a profit in the centralised part, and operating more effectively in the decentralised part.