January 2026
Intermediate to advanced
6 pages
14m
English
Superhero leaders are an outdated ideal. During a crisis, today’s most effective leaders know how to navigate complex emotions, find common ground, and stay flexible.
Crisis leadership is often cast in terms of people displaying extraordinary power, influence, charisma, and superhuman qualities.1 It is thus not surprising that we often assume that strong leaders have complete agency and control over making and executing decisions, especially during crises. Consider this definition of the term leaderism by Insead’s Gianpiero Petriglieri:
Leaderism is the belief that great leaders are the cure for every ill. It feeds on our desire for clarity and comfort, ...
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