There’s controversy about another celebrity diet guru being exposed. This shouldn’t surprise us. Shysters and salesmen have taken advantage of people for millennia. As they say, there’s a sucker born every minute.
What has changed is the amplification of messages and the speed and scale at which they can do damage.
Skepticism keeps us safe. We used to have it when we met a stranger on the road. But now we can follow the individual on Facebook and Instagram, peak into their lives. We feel oddly intimate with these strangers. But it’s an intimacy based on myths and mirrors.
We live in a weird world where we’re all trying to sell something to someone. It’s from this place that the cults of leadership and influence spring. Your first thought should be: what is this person trying to sell me?
Business culture is no less impressionable to the latest MBA fad or a leadership guru’s thoughts and tips. Perhaps we’re all looking for mentors to show us the way through challenges. Cue: life coaches.
Celebrity culture is based on it. The Kardashians make billions for entertaining us. Sports stars are paid millions for entertaining us. These economies are an odd inverted reality to me. It’s like going down a rabbit hole to a place where things are very, very strange indeed. Watching performance is compelling. It’s also called theatre. It’s not life and it’s not real.
Many people fancy themselves as a leader or some kind of influencer. When you’re in Wonderland the most wonderful things are possible.
But being a true leader or influencer is another thing altogether.
Great leaders have no ego. They carry their weakest team member. The really influential folk are rebels, blind to what the world thinks of them. Real leaders step up when no one else is willing to. Real influencers stick to their truth in the face of persecution. These people don’t have many followers (real or virtual).
The cults of leadership and influence are just trying to sell you something. They aren’t real leaders, or influencers. They’re simply salespeople.