Counterintuitive

"Leaders" who are dangerously insecure are the ones who most have to control everything, where all their news is good, all their actions "perfect," facts are less important than the daily "spin,"and there is no regard for those who are not part of their inner circle. It stands to reason that for the profoundly insecure, loyalty is more important than competence.

It is for these reasons that most of these self-generated fantasy worlds spin off into historic irrelevance and failure, but some leave great damage in their wake. Such "leadership" thrives in cultures prone to authoritarianism and tend to whither in cultures where democracy has deep roots.

As a longtime management consultant I often have privileged glimpses of leaders--both true and would-be, and I find it curiously reassuring whenever I hear a leader's staff say to them in a respectful way: "You're wrong!"