How to spot fake leaders in era of spin doctors

Abstract

As humans, we crave authenticity. We disdain fake friends. We abhor shifty family members. We wish all our family would be authentic. We despise phoney partners. We want real relationships. We find bogus colleagues repugnant. We desire reliable workmates.

Likewise, we loathe pandering leaders. We crave honest, transparent, and humble leaders. Our subconscious brains built up numerous techniques over thousands of generations for assessing another person’s perceived truthfulness, authenticity, and realness during interpersonal dialogue.

However, in the modern world, when messages can be crafted by spin masters and marketing specialists and we must form opinions about someone we may never even meet in person. Our brains find it difficult to narrow in on a more accurate picture of authenticity. But even though our brain cannot be entirely sure of the authenticity of someone we barely know or have never met, we still must proceed and make decisions based off imperfect information that we do indeed possess.