Sharpton's rousing & incisively rational sermon today reminded me of Mayo's 2017 HBR article. Weirdly prescient, it speaks to COVID19, predicting that the pain of leadership choices will be felt in a crisis! We all feel the mortal hurt of misplaced trust. OK, Sharpton is a leader. But he is no "humble" one as lauded by Mayo. Helpfully, she separates good from bad charismatics: those using their power for collective ends and those serving-self-solely. So, Sharpton is a "socialised charismatic". FINE, SO? Well, Mayo says that we often promote narcissists above humble leaders or socialised charismatics at work and the ballot box! As Hitler and Saddam showed, that can be horribly expensive for everyone. Mayo worried that a "romance of leadership" may be at play. HORROR! We all know what affairs of the heart do to rational minds! Perhaps that's why narcissists have cult-like followers despite overwhelming rational evidence of their harm to all. After all, love sometimes crazily grows when spiced by hurt. It is never easy to wrestle victims of Stockholm Syndrome from the mental grip of their captor!