Where Have All the Heroes Gone?
Gandhi, King, Kennedy — these cultural shepherds had a certain magic to their leadership. Throughout the 2016 presidential election, I hoped for a glimmer of that magic. But between the loosely spun yarns of an angry pitchman (“no puppet, no puppet — you’re the puppet”) and the choreography of a political chess master (“trumped-up trickle-down economics”), I never saw it.
Is it just nostalgia I’m after? I’m afraid not. Changes to our world have forged a different leadership style that isn’t merely new — it’s worse. There is powerful psychology behind how the paragons of previous generations were better leaders.
I’ll walk us through the two main ways that historically great leaders were different, why those methods worked, and how our current world makes them so rare. Then perhaps once we see where the path diverged, we can find a modern route back.
Every Message Is a Mirror
Every message we deliver implies something about our audience. Consider Winston Churchill’s 1941 reaction to England’s plight during World War II. By that point, people were sleeping on subway platforms to survive air raids.
This is what Churchill told them:
“The ten months that have passed have seen very terrible catastrophic events in the world. Ups and downs, misfortunes…
