Authentic leadership is countercultural and necessary.

I am a news junky. I spend plenty of time reading and consuming news from around the world. Since I began doing speech and debate in high school, I have enjoyed the written word and the exploits of journalists. I even aspired to be like my hero Mike Royko, who wrote unpopular truths with crusty wit. Sadly, my dreams of being an ink-stained wretch at a Chicago newspaper fell apart with my media career shortly after college. I gravitated to new media and technology, which hollowed out traditional media sources of my youth.

The times changed, and so did my media consumption. Over the last forty years, I have seen the rise and fall of cable TV news, America Online, and the burlesque, which is social media, but with the rise of each of these forms of news and information, authentic voices with something meaningful to say continue to dominate my attention. I may disagree with George Will's or David Brooks's opinions, but I know they base those opinions on informed inquiry, as I did when I read Ezra Klein. I crave expertise and people who have something meaningful to say. It also explains why I enjoy online magazines of traditional media like The Economist, Harvard Business Review, Business Week, and Fortune. They do it with a credible voice when discussing business or leadership.

It is why I paid close attention to Nate Bennett's article in the March 26th online version of Fortune. Bennet asked if authentic leadership was becoming unfashionable in our current cultural or political moment. Citing the recent scandal of political leaders planning a military operation via signal chat service and mistakenly including a reporter in the classified discussion, Bennett lamented that self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and relationship building, which are pragmatic parts of authentic leadership, are getting replaced by something which, "defies conventional expectations and prioritizes emotional resonance over factual accuracy and behavioral consistency."

In other words, authentic leadership is getting eclipsed by blowhards, bozos, and bullies. It is not enough for a secretary of defense to run the Pentagon. Now, they have to exercise with Navy SEALS with a tattoo in Arabic on their arm insulting religious Muslims. It is a performative toughness masking fragile masculinity. Strength is not enough now because you must show off that strength by forcing someone else to suffer. It does not solve real problems, but it looks great on social media and cable television.

I have experienced plenty of people like this in business, and it ends similarly. Something horrible happens, and the individual, fairly or unfairly, is held accountable. It is then up to others to clean up the damage they have left in their wake. Organizations' staffers, sargents, and bureaucrats have learned to mitigate the damage these people do or create accountability sinks to avoid getting entangled in their destructive vortex. It is why you hear complaints about the deep state or the managerial class from reactionary places in government or business. It also explains why organizations are so reluctant to change: the people who work at those organizations see change as a threat, notably if chaotic figures who lack authenticity advocate it.

That is why authentic leadership in business is more important than ever. The current cultural moment will pass, and genuine leaders will be responsible for surveying the damage and cleaning up the mess. Emotional intelligence and focus will be necessary to build trust with others and create a common cause.

It is not the kind of work that looks good on social media or cable news, but it will be vitally necessary for the health of the global economy and America. The real counterculture is one of authentic leadership, and you can consider me flying the flag proud and tall.

Until next time.