The louder they come
The bigger they crack
Bob Dylan
We all know the type. It’s a staple of popular culture. Think of television and movie characters such as Logan Roy from Succession and Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko. Or consider historical world leaders such as France’s Napoleon Bonaparte and Italy’s Benito Mussolini. And don’t overlook the present-day, with authoritarians such as Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China as well as would-be plutocrats like Elon Musk. Sometimes it’s a woman in the role. Think of Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada and history’s Catherine the Great.
What do these individuals—real or imagined—have in common? They have all embraced the “strongman” or “heroic leader” model of leadership to varying degrees. But as familiar as it is among world leaders and fictional characters, the strongman model occurs far more prevalently in everyday life. It’s the way of many or even most bosses, in fact.
The strongman model seems cleaner and more efficient than, say, democracy or consensus building. Bosses—male and female—play the strongman to consolidate power and not have to worry about others. And, as we know, power can corrupt the brain and render a boss incapable of empathizing or seeing things clearly. Moreover, people find the strongman irresistibly tempting, like moths fluttering toward a light.
We rave about the success of a Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg, as though they can do no wrong, while writing off the myriad harms they do. Such bosses claim to cut through BS to solve problems and advance an agenda, but do they?
Gordon Gekko, Meet the Gordian Knot
The fourth century BCE king Alexander of Macedon stands as one of the most dominant strongmen in history. His origin myth includes fulfilling a prophecy that whoever could untangle a large snarl of braided tree bark called the Gordian Knot would rule Asia. Legend has it that young Alexander simply unsheathed his sword and cut the knot with a stroke.
This action seems like the brilliant, alluring flame of genius, promising a simple solution to a complex problem, right? And, Alexander did go on to conquer much of Asia and—briefly—created one of the largest empires in the ancient world.
While some may object that cutting the knot constituted cheating, we must admit that it ultimately got Alexander what he wanted: power. Or did it? For one thing, Alexander was already on a military tear when he triumphed over the Gordian Knot, so what does a stupid knot have to do with anything aside from embellishing Alexander’s myth of inevitability and invincibility?
Alexander—an unparalleled military commander—was a megalomaniac who thought himself a deity. Meanwhile, his subjugation of Asia strained the resources of his homeland—Macedon and the Greek peninsula—and planted the seeds of its fall to the Roman Empire. Alexander’s death at 32 secured his reputation as a military genius along with the honorific “the Great,” but the aftermath proved him an inept ruler.
While we see contemporary figures on the world stage who emulate Alexander’s passion for land acquisition, we also see them at work in the boardroom, building business empires that far outstrip any practical benefit. As with Alexander, we may admire the reach of their ambition, but what about their leadership ability? When you boil it down, Alexander the Great was no more than the Gordon Gekko of the ancient world—a recklessly ambitious boss, but no leader in the sense we mean it.
Take a more modern example: Bill Gates. Gates’ Microsoft empire remains immense, affecting every aspect of modern computing. It’s a dazzling accomplishment that has generated billions over the decades.
But, where does that success leave the consumer? How have we fared in this Microsoft world we live in? I, for one, find Microsoft products—despite their ubiquity—poorly designed and only use them where we lack viable alternatives. As goes Alexander’s Macedon, so goes Microsoft. The more that the flame of ambition consumes, the less we have to choose from. Ultimately, the ensuing blaze produces only the shadow of progress and the ash of mediocrity.
Gordian Knot So Cut and Dry
The ability to create illusions stands as the truest strength of the strongman. Chief among these illusions looms the chimera that strongmen just make things easier. At first all’s well as you cut this knot, but then it’s this corner and eventually maybe this throat. We perceive bosses who act this way as no-nonsense types who will spare us from endless bureaucratic hurdles, but consider the price.
These bosses have two fatal flaws. One is that—unmoored from simple rules of behavior—they infect every decision with arbitrariness. Ultimately their choices adhere to no rhyme or reason, which generates a stochastic crisis. The second is that self-interest is their primary driver. Their alleged efficiencies serve only themselves and their ambition.
It also doesn’t help that so much of the BS they cut through isn’t BS at all. It’s rules and even laws that protect the organization, its people, its clients, and/or the world.
Don’t get me wrong. Cutting through genuine BS solves a host of problems. I have prided myself on my ability to detect BS and eliminate it throughout my career. But doing so requires discernment and caution.
For one thing, sometimes that brilliant flame that lights the path forward can also incinerate crucial safeguards. And let’s be honest; some obstacles in life make a lot of sense. Consider speed bumps and stop signs. Drivers may resent such inconveniences, but these annoyances prevent accidents, save lives, and promote peaceful communities.
Moreover, many strongman bosses seek battle against “straw men.” This means they focus on weak or even nonexistent opponents they can easily knock down to prove their strength. Most often, these straw men take the form of ginned-up “crises” for the strongman to “resolve.” We see this spectacle play out in politics all the time.
In many ways, Alexander’s Gordian Knot stood as a sort of straw man. Even if you believe in the prophecy, as I said, Alexander already had conquered a swath of Asia. Defeating the knot had nothing to do with his ability to win battles. And, despite his military success, he never really ruled Asia in any significant way. Conquest is not governance.
Similarly, the supposed problems many strongman bosses cut through are often just Gordian Knots—mythical, meaningless, and easily bested so long as you have no regard for rules.
Moth, Meet Flame
Strongmen often claim to have the simplest of answers to the most complex problems, but they rarely offer viable solutions. Although they may solve some immediate challenge, doing so usually gives rise to a host of other more intractable problems. They ruthlessly cut the budget to save money but then don’t have the resources to progress. They strip their staff of benefits and dignity and then sit confounded as everyone flees.
Despite all this, people still love the strongman myth. They’re like moths to a flame, condemned to suffer the moment they come within the orbit of such a boss. That’s one reason so many bad bosses run amok out there. People not only fear and admire them, but they tolerate, condone, and commend their behavior. They’ll sometimes even sacrifice their values or themselves for the strongman ideal.
For their typical followers, the strongman’s ultimate legacy consists of paranoia, misery, oppression, lowered productivity, and corruption. The suffering these failures engender offsets any short-term gain. In the very end, it’s the heat of the flame we experience, not the light.
Why is that catastrophe of a flame so seductive, then? Why do we willingly steer right into it? Perhaps we crave the flame’s warmth, its promise of clarity and purity. But the price is so high! And let’s face it, the life of ease the strongman promises is not only false, it’s tedious.
Have you ever encountered a strongman boss? How did you avoid becoming one yourself, or did you?
Leaders must learn how the strongman myth runs counter to their mission, and I can help.
Unlock the Great Leader Within! Download my free resource, the Transform To GREATness Toolkit, now!
I look forward to hearing from you.
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Strength As Weakness: Why We Love Strongman Myths