Exercising leadership requires one to be a critical thinker, observant and open to change

Cassandra, the gifted seer, warned the Trojans that there was an armed force inside the wooden horse they had hauled inside their city walls. The Trojans would not believe her, and so they met their fate at the hand of the wily Greeks.

The god Apollo, who had been spurned by Cassandra, punished her by ensuring that no one would believe her prophesies. That curse persists as we observe modern-day Cassandras being frequently mocked or ignored.

In her book “Willful Blindness,” leadership expert Margaret Heffernan explores the forces at work that make us deny the threats that stare us in the face. Through stories ranging from broken marriages and X-rays given to pregnant mothers knowing that radiation damages prenatal children, to the Catholic Church scandal and the BP environmental disaster, Heffernan highlights people’s fierce determination not to see what is right before their eyes if it in any way hints of change or conflict, or creates cognitive dissonance.

She points out that we don’t want to know what challenges our values and deeply held beliefs. We filter out, edit, rationalize, ignore, defer and become quite blind to truths we do not want to, or cannot bear, to hear. Our fragile egos serve as virulent gatekeepers.

“Useful Delusions: The Power and Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain” by Shankar Vedantam and Bill Mesler explores the related phenomenon of self-deception. These authors claim that we all seek beliefs that tell us we have a purpose, and that our lives are OK. We eschew the hard truth, as, according to them, our eyes and brains are not in the truth business, but in the functionality business. We are gullible, and once deceived, many of us defend ourselves by denying the reality that we were duped.

Blindness and self-deception are worsened when it comes to the collective.

Groups readily rationalize away a reality that does not meet their own.

As discussed in my book, “Ethical Leadership and Global Capitalism: A Guide to Good Practice,” groups not only share common understandings and outlooks, they also share secrets and defense mechanisms. For example, if the group wants to deny the reality of unethical behavior, it will. The group also has the potential to “kill” anyone who breaks the unconscious agreement of deception. Collaboration at all levels is the name of the game and the passport to safety. Think of the collusion at Volkswagen, Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank — and note the fate of whistleblowers.

Can denying reality serve us? Can we avoid the truth and live both deceived and happy? That depends on whether one wants to live an engaged, self-accountable and authentic life or not. The truth about the truth is that, in the end, it always prevails. Reality does not wait for anyone’s acceptance or approval. And while we can argue about the nuances of what is real — for example, the extent of the danger of Covid, which has claimed over 700,000 lives in the U.S. alone — it would be hard to be both sane and to dispute its existence.

The same goes for any new reality: We can ignore it, deny it, dilute it or fight it, yet the sea tide of change always arrives. And the longer we wait to embrace the truth, the fewer options available and the higher the cost, if not in inconvenience, then with our very existence.

The prime task of leadership is to identify new realities when they are new and to mobilize others to embrace the changes that ensue. Exercising leadership thus requires one to be a Cassandra, a critical thinker who is mindful, observant, curious, energetic and open to the inevitability of change and all its ramifications. Cassandras are not fazed by uncertainty, nor do they let their egos get in the way.

Unfortunately, far too few people in leadership positions have the nerve to follow through with the adaptive work if the clamor of discomfort is too loud. As a result, we lurch from one reactive response of a changing reality to another. And we end up tackling the symptoms because we do not have time to investigate the new reality’s systemic nature.

Maybe 2022 will herald a new reality, when there will be more brave Cassandras and where her curse will be lifted.

For the sake of the world, and the mounting new realities on the horizon, let us hope so.

Annabel Beerel, author of “Rethinking Leadership: A Critique of Contemporary Theories” (2021), can be reached through annabelbeerel.com.