📆 Upcoming event

Final couple of spots going for the upcoming ‘Leader as Coach’ workshop on the morning of the 12th February at the Creandum VC offices in Central London.

For full details, including how to apply, see the Notion page here.

'Strongman' leadership and the macho-fication of Silicon Valley

I’m wary of projecting too many stories on the world - particularly when drawing conclusions from the c.20% of the population who seem to be constantly screaming at each other online. Having said that, I think we can now say with confidence that ‘strongman’ leadership is not just a story, it is a reality of our times.

In the aftermath of Trump’s inauguration, it would be easy to give him all the airtime, but it’s not just Trump - it’s Kickl in Austria, Orban in Hungary, Wilders in the Netherlands, Meloni in Italy, Putin in Russia - the list could go on. So-called ‘strong’, often authoritarian-style leaders are fairly (and sometimes unfairly) winning democratic elections across the world. There are plenty of people in the world who view this as a good thing - I’m not one of them.

And it seems to me that the effects of this political shift are permeating the business world too, with a noticeable ‘macho-fication’ going on in Silicon Valley. The meek Zuckerberg desperately sipping water in front of congress is out, and ‘Zuck’ - with his gold chain, MMA-strengthened body, and anti-fact checking/DEI agenda, is in. Reedy bookseller Bezos is out, and gym-buff Bezos with his soon to be blushing bride, (and anti-DEI agenda) is in.

And then there’s Musk, whose not just responding to the times, but driving an increasingly divisive agenda. He’s long held a reputation as brash and abrasive, but seems to be taking that to never-before-seen heights - rallying against just about anything and everything that smells remotely ‘woke’ or ‘liberal’, supporting ever more far right figures (such as Stephen Yaxley Lennon aka Tommy Robinson in the UK), ramping up the intensity within the various companies he owns, and quite literally proposing a dick measuring contest.

Musk proudly states that he wants his gravestone to read ‘Never went to therapy’ - I can’t help but think that the world (and his life) might be better if he did.

Whilst it’s fun to explore the glow up photos of tech billionaires, there is a more serious side - a question I’ve been asking myself a lot recently - what is it about these times that sees a movement towards the ‘strongman’?

And when I say ‘the strongman’, I fully acknowledge that there’s a broad spectrum on display, even in the examples I’ve given - ‘Zuck’ is clearly a different proposition to Musk. And I don’t think Bezos would thank me for putting him in the same category as Putin! So it’s not to say that they all have the same agenda or the same extremes, but I do see them (and many others) shifting not just their appearance, but also their approach.

And it’s hard to give a definitive reason as to why. I don’t think anyone truly knows - and if they did, then a lucrative career in politics would await. But there are at least credible hypotheses about the forces at play, spanning the economic e.g. rising inequality; the cultural e.g. increased isolation, loneliness and ‘culture wars’; the technological e.g. the role of social media and AI; the geopolitical e.g. increased conflict; and the existential.

Let’s not forget the more straightforward answers either - money and power. We can, and in my opinion should, be looking to business leaders for more than just their money-making capabilities; but with the change in political winds, I can’t say I’m entirely surprised to see many lining up to bend the knee in exchange for power and influence that might serve their own interests - in fact Musk’s fortune is said to have increased by $170bn off the back of Trump’s election - a pretty sizeable ROI on the $277m he backed Trump with. And last I checked, Meta’s stock price had risen by about 8% since the announcements around fact checking and DEI. Headline reads, ‘Capitalists do Capitalism’.

What seems true to me in all of this is the role of uncertainty - that the more uncertain the world feels, the more people endorse leaders they see as ‘strong’, and the more certain leaders will feel inclined to exhibit strength in overt ways. And this is clearly what strength looks like to many people in the world. So, whilst I’d love to dismiss the ‘strongman’ as a display of insecurity more than strength, the inconvenient truth is that many hold it as the latter. We are in an age of what Geoff Mulgan calls ‘Winner worship’.

So what does this all mean for founders and leadership more generally? Is it time to become the ‘strongman’, to take up MMA and rollback DEI?

I suppose all I can share at this stage is my hope based on my own view of the world. The hope that we can reconcile strength and power with values and ethics. That it’s not posed as an either/or choice, but instead as an opportunity to leverage the best of both.

Because there are clearly some things about ‘strongman’ leadership that are not to be dismissed. Love them or hate them, most ‘strongmen’ are clear on vision. They recognise that in times of uncertainty, people want a clear vision and with it, a clear sense of hope. They’re often big and bold in taking action whilst not being afraid of those who disagree with them. For better or worse, they become disruptors of bigger systems.

All of these things can be used for good. To make money, sure; but also to usher in a world that is more united than divided. Both of those things can be true in the mind of the Wise Founder.

From the archive