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“You cannot control the outcome of a crisis, but you can control who you want to be during one.” — Meredith Wilson Perfet in Simone Stolzoff’s book How to Not Know. That line stopped me. Because it names the truth most leaders don’t want to face: crisis doesn’t just test your leadership; it reveals it. When the pressure rises, you don’t rise to the occasion; you fall to the level of your preparation, your values, and your character. And in that freefall, Faux Leadership™ is e

I thought I had the framework of Faux Leadership™ nailed down: the performative connection, the surface‑level competence, the optics‑over‑outcomes mindset. But as I received feedback and reflected on what is too often a leadership fatal flaw, I realized I missed something essential... something that explains why these leaders can look polished, sound convincing, and still leave a trail of confusion, distrust, and exhaustion behind them. I missed the role of character, and whe

Have you ever walked away from a meeting with a leader feeling strangely unsatisfied—like you heard a lot of words but learned almost nothing? Maybe the leader sounded confident, polished, even impressive, yet something in your gut whispered that the substance wasn’t there. The jargon was fluent, the performance convincing, but the depth was missing. Most of us have encountered leaders like this. Some of us have worked for them or with them as colleagues. A few of us have bee

Faux leadership isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a real and pressing challenge in organizations today. It shows up when individuals adopt the appearance of leadership without the substance: polished rhetoric without accountability, charisma without competence, or surface-level initiatives that fail to drive meaningful change. While it may look convincing in the short term, faux leadership erodes trust, stalls progress and creates cultures that value style over substance. Two key

Leadership often begins with good intentions. People step into leadership roles hoping to inspire, guide, and support their teams. Yet sometimes leadership takes a wrong turn, evolving into something less genuine and more performative. Faux leadership rarely starts maliciously. Instead, it may start as a survival strategy to fill gaps in competence, connection, or commitment or respond to an environment. Unfortunately, what may have started as a coping mechanism eventually

Leadership development should be an intentional activity, with growth and learning. Faux leaders simply collect information, failing to integrate it or go deeper.