Leadership hypokrites - practicing versus pretending (part two)

Moving along the hypocrisy - integrity continuum

Following last month’s leadership letter, we are continuing the conversation about the hypokrites condition in leaders. The focus of part two is a further revealing of the problem of “pretend”: the real cost to organisations and leaders, how to spot it, and how to combat its persistence.

A culture of pretend

Before considering the specifics of the hypokrites dilemma in leadership, it is important to understand the pervasiveness of pretend today. As explained in a recent article published by Ekstasis, a culture of pretend permeates contemporary society in the developed world. Like relentless waves, advertising campaigns, party politics, and carefully-curated algorithms work tirelessly to understand our digital footprint in the hope of delivering the right thing to persuade us to buy, vote, like or share. The temptations of pretend come from the appearance of depth, competence, connection, and beauty, when all the while the actuality is shallowness, incompetence, isolation, and ugliness.

When reality intrudes (and it always does), disillusionment is expressed in different forms, but the most prevalent human response is anxiety, loneliness, and disenchantment (Sandra E. Cha and Amy C. Edmondson expand on this in When Values Backfire). While the focus on technology grows, leaders still lead people, many of whom are anxious, lonely, and disappointed about the big picture of leadership across the world. Some call this a global affective mood disorder, but whatever the diagnosis, there can be no doubt of the challenge it presents to leaders. In this era, leaders need to become human-centered – marked by empathetic, humble, vulnerable, and authentic behaviours (Harvard Business Review Report 2023).

Counting the cost in the workplace

In a culture of pretend, why is it so important that leaders pay close attention to the hypokrites condition? The answer lies in how much it costs organisations and leaders - a cost which is undisputed. The premise of this argument points back to the hypocrisy – integrity continuum discussed in part one of this leadership letter series. Michael Jenson and Karen Chistensen argue that without integrity (i.e. the opposite of hypocrisy), nothing works. They believe integrity is a necessary condition for maximum performance, as well as being an actionable pathway to being trusted by others; with trust being the foundational building block of high-performing teams (Patrick Lencioni, 2002). But how is integrity’s antithesis - and hypocrisy’s lack of workability - expressed as a cost to the workplace?

Research by Rebecca Greenbaum and her colleagues found leader hypocrisy is associated with lower perceptions of interpersonal justice, intent to stay with the organisation, and job satisfaction in the workplace. They also argue the most prevalent, but less visible response to hypocrisy is disenchantment – evoking anger, disappointment, and mistrust in the leader. So, while employees may not want to create a risk to their career by raising a red flag directly with a hypocritical leader, they instead can engage in non-aggressive deviant behaviours (Greenbaum et al. 2012). This includes time theft, silent quitting, or disengagement from extra-role activities or collective causes.

More recent research has found the inconsistency between a leader’s words and behaviours can affect the employee’s voice, serving as an intangible closed door that hampers the willingness to speak up (Han et al. 2024). When employees feel they lack a voice in their organisation, there is an impact on the wellbeing, commitment and innovation outputs of the organisation. Stress, poor health, and absenteeism all have significant impacts on the financial performance of the organisation and are some of the most widely-acknowledged people and culture costs that organisations face.

The cost for leaders who pretend

A leader who prioritises the appearance of competence but lacks the skill and understanding of the real human work required, could be called an actor. Some leaders are great actors and some are even worthy of the red carpet. But the first problem with acting - adopting the persona of a human-centered leader by mimicking vulnerability, humility, and authenticity - is what happens when the situation goes off-script or develops into a crisis. Whatever the surprise or change in events, the acting leader, if they cannot improvise, is left paralysed. As Umair Haque reminds us, an emphasis on acting, not being in leadership, will result in leader paralysis when the unexpected turmoil of crisis and change happens to leaders.

The second problem for the hypocritical leader when the mask slips, is the loss of connection and trust with others. Why? Because hypocrisy thwarts psychological safety - which should be the number one priority of leaders (Giles, 2016). Drawing on behavioural integrity theory, employees try to make sense of their leaders’ values and behaviour to predict and control their future fate under that leader. Processing information about a leader involves high degrees of psychological involvement, so when a leader doesn’t walk the talk, it becomes difficult for employees to predict their behaviour or true intentions (Greenbaum et al. 2012). The impact of this type of inconsistency is withdrawal of trust in the leader, which is difficult to rebuild.

The third problem is the fact that pretending which escalates in the long-term can inculcate unhealthy and toxic distortions of reality into one’s identity. Research explains how a longer-term pattern of pretending can evolve into self-deception on the part of the leader - which is also connected to low self-awareness (Bruce Wilson, Psychology Today). Poor self-awareness and cognitive dissonance affect how leaders seek and estimate information and is costly, resulting in poor decision-making, strained relationships, diminished mental health, and hindered personal growth.

How to spot the pretender

Research and practice tell us loud and clear that hypocrisy can be hard to detect in leaders. Abdulfattah and Majed Yaghi carried out research which found hypocrisy represents a softer, more indirect, and undisclosed form of toxic behaviour displayed in dishonesty, disregard to institutional wellbeing, and a disingenuous personality, which is only revealed over time. Contrary to the stereotypical view that toxic behaviour is embodied by meanness, rudeness, or brutality, it is important to realise that hypocritical (toxic) leaders can be friendly and courteous.

In framing some practical ways to spot a leader who is faking it, we asked our “intern” - HBR AI - to help leaders spot pretenders. Here are some red flags to watch out for:

• Lack of details or follow-through. Pretenders may make grand promises or claims, but struggle to articulate concrete plans for execution. Their initiatives can be vague and often fizzle out without tangible results. This is most revealing in the heat of a crisis.

• Shifting narratives. Inconsistent messaging that changes based on the audience could signal someone is telling people what they want to hear versus operating from a clear, authentic vision.

• Blame-shifting. True leaders are accountable for their mistakes and take ownership when things go wrong. Pretenders may make excuses, deflect responsibility, or even throw others under the bus to protect their image.

• Superficial relationships. Pretenders prioritise style over substance and personal gain over organisational success. While they may work hard to impress those above them, pretenders often fail to build real connections with those they lead.

• Resistance to feedback. There is a difference between leaders who ask for feedback without intent to act and those who willingly take feedback on board and implement it. Pretenders may play the feedback game, but stop short at the point of making necessary change.

• Avoidance of challenging questions or situations. Pretenders don’t have the ability to handle criticism constructively. They will fake empathy by responding initially to the needs of others, and will make promises of transformation, but ultimately do not change.

Combating the culture of pretend - what should organisations do?

From the research, it is paramount for organisations to develop clear behavioural guidelines for leaders and managers, emphasising honesty, transparency, and consistency. These guidelines should be used in the recruitment of new leaders, as well as the review and promotion of current leaders. This can be achieved by a regular review of leader behaviours by acquiring feedback from subordinates, peer reviews, superior evaluations, or performance assessments, and reward or penalise accordingly (Han et al. 2024). Organisations should proactively encourage leaders to regularly engage in self-reflection through personal journals, reflective meetings, or professional coaching to help them identify and address their shortcomings consistently. It is also important to regularly inform employees about whether their voices are valued, and recognise and reward those who provide valuable feedback.

Combating the culture of pretend - what can leaders do?

For leaders, it is not about escaping the reality of pretend culture, or collapsing into it, but discovering a different reality amidst it for them and those around them (read more about affective leadership by Jason Swan Clark here). To move the dial away from hypocrisy and back toward integrity, here are three things that can help you on the journey:

1. Start: find out where you are on the hypocrisy-integrity continuum. Ask for feedback from peers in low-pressure situations and work your way up to higher-stakes scenarios. Say something like: I’m trying to understand my impact and the kind of experiences I am creating for those who work with me. Can you give me some sense of what I should keep doing, start doing, and stop doing?

2. Stop: contrary to widespread advice, don’t fake it till you make it. Simon Sinek explains the irony that comes with a leadership presence that means leaders should never pretend to be someone they are not.

3. Continue: always be accountable. With the level of change and lack of control today it can be impossible to always keep your word (Jensen and Christensen, 2009). But you must practice accountability. Trust is about honouring your word e.g. if you said the report would be finished in two weeks' time, but can no longer make the deadline, then you say sorry and commit to a new deadline but own the change and ask about what you can do to clean up the mess you have caused as a result.

In conclusion, while the corrosive presence of leadership hypocrisy at the bottom end of the hypocrisy - integrity continuum is both pervasive and detrimental, there is an antidote. The pathway to integrity, as always in leadership, is not easy and it may not always be widely adopted; but it is part of our leadership response-ability. And the powerful impact of integrous leaders upon our systems, organisations and the people we serve cannot be underestimated.

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Want to learn more? Here are some leadership research sources

Bharanitharan, Darren; Lowe, Kevin; Bahmannia, Somayeh; Chena, Zhen Xiong; Lin Cui (2021) Seeing is not believing: Leader humility, hypocrisy, and their impact on followers' behaviours, Leadership Quarterly.

Best Practice Institute (2016) The unseen consequences of hypocritical leadership, https://blog.bestpracticeinstitute.org/consequences-of-hypocritical-leadership/

Han, Changlin; Xueling, Wang; Wenjia, Zhang; Mingyue, Liu; Yuhuan, Xia (2024) I treated you the way you treated me: the effect of leader hypocrisy on employees’ voice behaviour, Psychology Research and Behaviour Management.

Ekstasis and Paul J Pastor (2025) In the Presence of Mine Enemies: Part 1 The war of beauty, Ecstatic Newsletter, February 2.

Giles, Sunnie (2016) The most important leadership competencies according to leaders around the world, Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2016/03/the-most-important-leadership-competencies-according-to-leaders-around-the-world

Greenbaum, Rebecca, Bardes Mawritz, Mary, Piccolo, Ronald F. (2012) When leaders fail to “walk the talk”: supervisor undermining and perceptions of leader hypocrisy, Journal of Management.

Haque, Umair (2016) Are you a leader, or just pretending to be one? Harvard Business Review.

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Ibarra, Herminia (2023) What makes an authentic leader? Podcast:

https://hbr.org/podcast/2023/09/what-makes-an-authentic-leader

Jensen, Michael and Christensen, Karen (2009) Integrity: Without it, nothing works, Harvard Business Review.

Knight, Rebecca, (2023) 8 essential qualities of successful leaders, Harvard Business Review, December 13: https://hbr.org/2023/12/8-essential-qualities-of-successful-leaders.

Li Jiang, Maryam Kouchaki, and Leslie K. John (2023) Authenticity research: why leaders should be open about their flaws, Harvard Business Review, January 11.

Lencioni, Patrick: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Five-Dysfunctions-Team-Leadership-Lencioni/dp/0787960756

Owens, B. P., and Hekman, D. R. (2015) How does leader humility influence team performance? Exploring the mechanisms of contagion and collective promotion focus. Academy of Management Journal, 59, 1088–1111.

Wilson, Bruce (2023) When pretending turns into self-deception, Psychology Today, April 14.

Yaghi, Abdulfattah and Yaghi, Majed (2021) Evaluating organisational hypocrisy within universities as toxic leadership behaviour, Public Integrity.