Maintaining social distance in flat organizations

With organizations around the world preferring to have a flat structure, as opposed to a hierarchical one, social distance is reducing between leaders and followers. This article argues that leaders must maintain some sense of social distance so as to keep an eye on their overarching goals, as opposed to getting into a friendship competition.

The article ends on a rather interesting note:

What makes this case of wider significance is that introverts are overrepresented at the top of organizations, and many of them find establishing closeness difficult. Introverts need time to establish closeness and reveal difference—and time is in short supply. The trouble is that much that has been written about leadership behavior plays to the predispositions of the extrovert. We need a "Leadership Guide for the Introvert."