Slasher Ethos
A new archetype for leading through disruption
Last week, I shared background about my upcoming book, "Perspective Agents," set to be released early next year. In this post, I delve into the primary audience and leadership archetype necessary to navigate the looming social and tech disruptions we face.
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“Leaders will need to be multiliterate in future worlds, just as international leaders are much stronger if they are multilingual.”
Bob Johansen, Distinguished Fellow, The Institute for the Future
A Financial Times article caught my eye on an overseas flight last January. A few days before the World Economic Forum, the story warned of a generational crisis. Global leaders faced a "polycrisis," a set of interconnected risks spanning climate change, a looming recession, and geopolitical conflict. The prevailing mood to start the year was one of doom.
There was a different, less visible challenge embedded in the Financial Times story. The lede said, “The C-suite is contending with a baffling world that most are ill-equipped to analyze.” Gillian Tett wrote, “The issues facing business leaders can’t be understood by the concepts usually taught in business schools, such as economic models or financial statements.”
Leaders taking business and society into the future faced a growing perspective gap. I wondered if the masters of the universe at Davos were ill-equipped to guide us, who eventually will?
Disruptions Create Perspective Deficits
The list of disruptive forces challenging leaders is getting long. To help with book research, I built a database that catalogs “outlier events.” The platforms feeding it aggregate tens of thousands of new signals that span escalating climate risk, new competitive forces, metastasizing culture wars, and generative AI’s ascent. The influx of signals, and technological forces behind them, is reflected in the following picture.
With COVID-19, all leaders were forced to rapidly react to an unforeseen event. From remote work policies to supply chain disruptions, we faced a new set of challenges that required agility, resilience, and foresight. The pandemic response presents a feel of what’s to come.
Given the depth of evidence on new disruptions in play, we need to consider “unimaginables” like a global pandemic as thinkables. The problem is, as expressed by McLuhan protege Neil Postman, we’d rather “amuse ourselves to death” than contemplate different, cognitively challenging scenarios. In other words, when faced with hard, unfamiliar challenges, we’re inclined to look the other way.
We’re wired for it. Psychologists at McGill and Carleton Universities published pioneering research comparing cognitive effort with physical pain. The study explored the extent to which demanding mental tasks drove people to accept physical pain to escape. Turns out, as cognitive demands increased, people chose to receive a painful stimulus rather than exert effort. This bias is a distinct liability for leaders and laypeople alike, given the social turbulence around us.
Bob Johansen, a distinguished fellow with the Institute for the Future, pulls no punches on what’s at stake. In his book New Leadership Literacies, he says action without foresight will “increasingly be dumb, dangerous, or both.” Johansen believes leaders will need to combine foresight, insight, and action in an ongoing cycle of learning.
The Upside of Uncertainty
Donald Sull, a strategy professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, says there’s an upside in cycles of change. He defines turbulence as rapid, unpredictable changes in an environment that influence a firm’s ability to create value. Sull says unexpected changes aren’t bugs in the world's operating system. They’re a feature.
Sull’s optimistic slant is based on three factors. First, turbulence infuses the economy with fresh resources such as AI, green tech, biotech, and blockchain. Second, it allows for creative combinations of existing resources, leading to soaring stock valuations and groundbreaking innovations from companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Moderna. Lastly, upheaval stimulates new demand, as seen in the popularity of streaming media, the rise in electric vehicle sales, and the increased adoption of telemedicine.
The key is to have the right, relevant maps to create value differently. Sull says maps leading into the future—be they political agendas, personal plans, or predictions —are provisional based on confirming or disproving evidence learned over time.
In corporate circles, a leadership deficit may stunt new potential. According to the MIT Sloan Management Review, most firms have material leadership gaps to realize new opportunities. For their report, New Leadership Playbook for the Digital Age, they surveyed 4,394 global leaders from more than 120 countries. The findings were sobering:
Just 12% of respondents strongly agreed that their leaders have the right mindsets to lead them forward.
Only 40% agreed that their companies are building robust leadership pipelines to tackle the demands of the digital economy.
While 82% believed that leaders in the new economy need to be digitally savvy, less than 10% of respondents strongly agreed that their organizations have leaders with the right skills to thrive.
Even more, the report cited leaders maintaining behaviors that stymie the talents of their employees. It’s a warning sign on the path to creating new value for customers and employees.
A New Archetype for Future Leaders
Bridging organizations into the future necessitates new leadership archetypes. Decision-making extends beyond grasping present circumstances and choices. It demands a deep dive into emerging, market-moving disruptions and their implications on decisions. This process hinges on leaders’ thought patterns and perspectives.
Embedded beliefs, influenced by those we aspire to be like, form patterns of behavior. Carl Jung defined twelve core archetypes that represent the range of basic human motivations. In this case, consider these below in a leadership context.
A friend and prominent venture capitalist I spoke with thinks of leadership in a more nuanced way than Jung’s framework or exemplars shown here. He noted great transitional leaders are "Slashers." They balance category and institutional knowledge with technical understanding and working insight in emerging areas of opportunity.
The phrase Slasher was coined by Marci Alboher, author of One Person/Multiple Careers. She described the 'slash' in job titles of those who are an X/Y/Z, like a journalist/web editor/PR expert. It's since been co-opted to describe people blending multiple income streams or working across multiple companies.
The concept also applies to leadership. Though the term evokes horror genres or Jack Welch-style cost-cutting, in this context, Slashers slant positive. They bring varied perspectives and expertise to solve novel problems.
I think of Slashers as guardians/guides/pioneers/innovators fused into one. These multifaceted modes of being bring a new, hybrid way of leading. Going further, Slashers are simultaneously:
Guardians: These are individuals known for their dependability, responsibility, and trustworthiness. They place personal safety, security, and protection at the forefront. Guardians deeply understand the importance of stability and balance it against unknowns that accompany new thinking.
Guides: These are mentors leading others toward self-discovery and transformation. With strong ties to education, coaching, and mentoring, guides are deeply familiar with the challenges and routes necessary to move teams forward.
Pioneers: Synonymous with exploration, discovery, and risk-taking, pioneers have an intrinsic comprehension of creativity and innovation. Living on the frontier of change, they propel teams to venture into new territories, balancing opportunities and risks.
Innovators: These visionaries ceaselessly challenge the status quo, probing new ideas and horizons. The most proficient innovators prioritize iterative learning over flawless blueprints or theoretical approaches. Innovators, as opposed to pioneers, commercialize new ways of working and delivering value.
In unison, these traits define the leaders of tomorrow. Whether at the helm or in the ranks, they’re grounded in the intricacies of their industries, new technologies and capabilities that expand spectrums of opportunity.
Unexpected Leadership References
To realize the potential impact of the Slasher ethos, let’s look at two examples outside the typical boundaries of new leadership cases: Coach Prime and Taylor Swift. Each exhibits a Slasher mentality, and in doing so, smashes precedent in sports and entertainment. You find notes of the guardian/guide/pioneer/innovator fusion embedded in their stories.
Let’s start with Coach Prime. He’s not just a football coach; he's a catalyst for transformation. So how does he do it?
It starts with being a mentor and father figure to his student-athletes. His approach combines affection and discipline, ensuring his players are ready for the football season and life's challenges. In a world where sports reflect socio-racial biases, Coach Prime is a source of protection and support, especially for African-American student-athletes. Beyond drills and touchdowns, he preaches the gospel of authentic self-worth and identity.
The core of his philosophy centers around teamwork. While accolades and external applause matter, Coach Prime shapes the internal ethos of discipline, camaraderie, and excellence. His belief in each player's potential, coupled with the stress on mutual responsibility, has forged a team of believers committed to the game and one another.
His pioneering construction of the team ran counter to convention. By breaking the mold through the NCAA transfer portal, Coach Prime ventured into uncharted territory. Seventy-one players, encompassing most of the team, transferred out of the program. The team turnover ignited fierce criticism among fellow coaches and the press. His gamble reaped extraordinarily quick returns. The team was arguably one of the worst in college football last season, posting a 1-11 record. With only months to prepare, his restructured team shocked the sports world. Colorado knocked off TCU, a finalist in the 2022 NCAA Championship. They now sit at #18 in AP’s Top 25 poll.
Coach Prime's influence transcends the field of play. His adept use of personal celebrity, amplified by a ubiquitous presence on social media, gives followers an insider's view into the team culture, which in turn, generates massive attraction, attention, and revenue.
Football season ticket sales shattered previous records. Apparel sales for the University of Colorado Boulder soared by 700% since his hire. His strategy fueled the NIL values of star players, with Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders now clocking in at $1.8 million and $3.5 million, respectively. Coach Prime's leadership also has a spill-over effect. His presence injected an estimated $17 million into the local economy. His story isn’t just a sports phenomenon, it represents a leadership revolution.
Now let’s turn to Taylor Swift. Her story is not just about an impossibly popular singer-songwriter, but one of a world-building maven, fervent fan advocate, and constant innovator.
One of Swift's most admirable traits is her ability to capture emotions in their rawest form and weave them into lyrical compositions that resonate with her fans. She doesn't just sing songs; she narrates shared experiences. She is an advocate for the tumultuous sea of emotions that every individual, especially the youth, sails through.
At events like this week’s MTV Video Music Awards, Swift's reputation as a team player comes through. She consistently spotlights the contributions and talents of her collaborators, underscoring that music is a collective endeavor. This attitude reflects her deep-rooted respect for the art and talent who bring it to life.
Swift is in a class of her own with unwavering dedication to fans. Through surprise visits, heartfelt letters, and consistent interactions on social media, she ensures that her bond with Swifties remains unbroken, nurturing it with the same care she pours into her songs.
However, it's not just the emotional but the entrepreneurial aspect of Swift that demands attention. Her breakthrough decision to re-record her songs was more than a personal endeavor; it was a bold statement on artists' rights. By doing so, Swift carved a new path for musicians to monetize and control their art, turning a deeply personal challenge into an industry-altering precedent.
As seen in documentaries and case reviews, Swift transformed "care" into a thriving business model. Economists refer to her impact as 'Swiftonomics.' The 'Eras Tour' is a financial juggernaut projected to contribute nearly $5 billion in consumer spending in the US alone. The tour's gross sales, expected to touch the $1 billion mark, echo a staggering fact: If Taylor Swift were an economy, she would be bigger than over 50 countries. Exemplifying her unprecedented popularity, Swift became the first artist ever to occupy all ten spots on Billboard’s Top 100 this year.
While we can’t necessarily emulate the astronomical success of Coach Prime and Taylor Swift, we can learn from them. Each is building a new institutional form beyond the confines of traditional convictions and playbooks.
A Guide for the Next Generation Leaders
The Slasher archetype is also personified by Fast Company’s annual Most Creative People list. Exemplified by the 2023 class, each made a game-changing impact in their categories by doing things that had never been done before. As shown below, they’re at the forefront of innovation spanning clean energy, remote work, social tech, and AI development. While many on the list work at new economy companies, some make changes happen in incumbents. When analyzing the Fast Company list, I found their contributions map to the disruptions charted in my database.
The Perspective Agents book and newsletter are for this new leadership archetype. Forward-leaning leaders have a sixth sense for change, informed by patterns taking place beyond the view of tradition-bound sources and experts. The book, to be published by Fast Company Press, dives deep into changing currents to give next-generation leaders a view into technical and social disruptions, and paths to capitalize on them. These new factors carry risks and plenty of upsides to make a difference.
This revolutionary period warrants a revised way of thinking about how we lead, informed by new guides.