Robert Theobald has suggested that "any useful understanding of networks and linkages must be placed within the context of changing authority structures." That is to say, the growing interest in collaboration can be seen as part of "a bumpy transition" away from "top-down power structures" toward a new way of coordinating activities and making decisions. In this context, such traditional leadership qualities as power, charisma, persuasiveness, the ability to take unilateral action, etc., may be not only inappropriate but damaging to the process.