Leadership Is in Crisis — Do Not Get Used to It

What Is a Leadership Crisis? Signs, Examples and Why It Matters

A leadership crisis occurs when those in power fail to act with accountability, responsibility, and long-term vision. In 2026, this crisis is increasingly visible at the highest levels of global politics. The real danger is not the crisis itself—but becoming used to it.

What Does a Leadership Crisis Look Like in Practice?

This Can’t Be Real — Is This Actually Happening?

A childish cycle of revenge, petty blame-shifting, the concealment of official or legal misconduct, and simply appallingly poor behavior. Stubbornness, know-it-all arrogance, and a complete refusal to acknowledge one’s own mistakes. This is what we are now forced to witness daily from the leadership of the world’s most powerful nation.

It Can’t Be True. But It Is.

We are accustomed to seeing highly skilled, well-educated, and experienced professionals on the stage of foreign policy, which is why this leaves us baffled. Is this really happening? Can you dismiss the current stream of irrational news and statements as a temporary phenomenon?

Do you believe this madness will soon pass without leaving a mark on us? Or will it trigger the kind of authoritarian blowback many have warned about (as discussed on Substack’s The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali, featuring historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat)?

A Model of Leadership

Interviews are marked by arrogance, easy provocation, laughter at serious matters, ego-driven posturing, a reluctance to engage with the substance, and a tendency to answer questions by repeating a pre-scripted mantra. We are left wondering, in confusion, whether there is some deeper strategic or moral intent behind this.

Or is the leader—or spokesperson in question—simply too weak, incompetent, or fearful to adapt their responses?

Isn’t the core of political professionalism precisely the ability to remain composed in any situation—to project calm and confidence, and to build a foundation of trust, cooperation, and inclusion? If a genuine guiding logic, long-term considered objectives, and clear justifications for decisions are absent—or shift from week to week—how could this possibly be achieved?

We recall a time when social media became a new platform for politicians—one where the most active could highlight their sophistication and sense of solidarity, and gain broad approval. Now, social media has become a tool for attack, insult, and self-promotion. Not all platforms allow unfavorable comments to be hidden, which has been “solved” by creating one’s own platform (Truth Social). I have never read it—and likely couldn’t. The absence of a link is not an accident.

Leadership is in crisis, and we are being presented with new, norm-breaking models. How can anyone behave like that—and what could possibly be gained from it? How can someone be so short-sighted and indifferent, seemingly unaware even of their own interests?

When leadership at the highest level appears erratic and immature, it forces us to ask why this is possible, why it is tolerated, and what impact it has on us. The resulting disbelief and uncertainty are deeply unsettling.

Impact Across Different Levels

What can young, emerging politicians learn from this period? Likely only a small, marginal group of rising stars will copy this ready-made template. Unfortunately, the threshold for adopting attitudes that erode a rules-based order—and for embracing heavy-handed, norm-breaking behavior that crosses the boundaries of good taste—now risks becoming lower.

What about civil servants and decision-makers? Hopefully, the legacy will not be that, in order to keep one’s position, one must become a loyal sycophant—and hopefully the most important lesson is still yet to come: that autocracy can be challenged if resistance is sufficiently unified, and if there is the courage to demonstrate real leadership by engaging in open, critical argumentation without retreating into silence.

Schoolchildren and young adults receive a constant stream of information on their phones, hour by hour. They are our future workforce—managers, leaders, experts, and the fathers and mothers of tomorrow. Should we be bringing this current global turbulence to them and providing proper context? Should we be pausing the flow of game and prank videos and encouraging them to absorb what is happening in the world right now?

Perhaps the young mind—and its social sphere—does not have the capacity to fully accommodate global politics. Does indifference risk becoming normalized? And what proportion of young people might come to admire a strong, grandiose style of leadership?

How damaging is the normalization of bulldozing behavior for young people, especially if it is treated neutrally—and tacitly accepted—by mainstream media?

That said, the lesson may also cut the other way. The current administration is likely to collapse—whether due to a general loss of public trust, the economic consequences of war for ordinary citizens, the erosion of its leadership image in comparison with other Western leaders, or a series of scandalous revelations.

I will not go into detail here about the leverage held by allied governments, the Epstein case, or internal pressure within the GOP.

After reflecting on this, I feel it may be best to shield my own children from all of it. Perhaps this only concerns me because I have grown older. Then again, after a long pause, the first real conversation I had with my eldest son was about war and politics.

A Mismatch with Workplace Expectations

What gets under my skin the most is the stark contradiction between the standards imposed on ordinary citizens—the norms of today’s working life—and the conduct of the leader of a major power. Why are more expected of us?

I am not comparing this to the head of my own country, who offers only strong examples of leadership for us in Finland. With gratitude—and a great deal of pride—I can say that Finland is in good hands: guided by values and led with increasing courage day by day.

Today, a great deal is expected of the average citizen in working life, regardless of position: problem-solving ability, resilience, teamwork skills, the willingness to address issues beyond one’s formal role, strong communication, ethical conduct, environmental awareness, situational judgment, and more.

The same does not appear to be required of politicians. They are not obliged to answer questions; instead, they can evade them and respond not with reasoned argument but with attack and intimidation. Nor do they seem expected to regulate their reactions in pursuit of effective, productive solutions while maintaining good conduct.

Rather, it appears that even top-level politicians can seek to influence people and attitudes at the expense of performance.

Structural and System-Level Consequences

Responsibility Without Power — Power Without Responsibility!

A careless head of state can sidestep a question and exercise power by hijacking the situation to push their own agenda. In working life, irresponsible influence is not an option. A manager cannot say that a production batch was scrapped on purpose just to shape attitudes. Fortunately, more is expected of ordinary citizens than the model we are currently being shown.

Hopefully, this phenomenon in its full scope affects only a handful of heads of state and their inner circles. For clarity, I am not opposing the rising standards of working life, nor the emphasis on responsibility and participation at every level.

The problem—and the source of this contradiction—lies, in this case, with the role models at the very top of the global stage.

Sustainable Development and the Future of Humanity

The title is vast, so I’ll keep this brief:

How easy is it, right now, to feel confident in humanity’s ability to care for the planet and secure its own future without wasting resources on war? The use of shared global commitments and technologies should be consistently stronger—operating at a greater scale and staying one step ahead of the reckless destruction driven by regional or individual interests.

Are we on the right path, or heading toward a kind of idiocracy?

Read also: “Humanity in Terrible Decline: Maintaining Sense of Justice is Mankind’s Major Social Media challenge” (April 12, 2025)

Psychological and Individual Impact

Psychological Impact and Internal Response

Uncertainty seeps in from the news almost inevitably. Does it lead to cynicism—or, as a counterreaction, a kind of liberation? It feels almost pointless to dwell on my own small worries and shortcomings when even world leaders seem to be losing their grip.

When the world no longer feels governed—and the examples we receive are so poor—do we start bulldozing as well, or do we hold on to our values? Are we, reluctantly, meant to take something from this as a lesson? What does all of this do to our own behavior?

What Can We Learn from the Current Situation?

What Chaos Teaches Us

What does the ongoing conflict teach us about democracy and humanity? Can anything be learned from chaos? When the capacity for cooperation and rational discourse collapses, nothing remains of democracy or participatory leadership. Respect for leadership erodes, and offensive behavior inflicts lasting damage that cannot simply be forgotten.

Those in a tyrant’s inner circle are left to weigh their options: continue along the same path—compounding mistakes and prolonging their own downfall—or change course at the last moment in an attempt to save themselves.

According to informed economic estimates, the war is costing anywhere from hundreds of billions to well over a trillion dollars, even if the situation stabilizes within a one- to two-year timeframe.

The thousands of deaths, injuries, and the suffering of families cannot be measured in monetary terms. Beyond the immediate destruction and grief, it may only be in the 2030s and 2040s that we can assess whether this model of irresponsible leadership has given rise to new patterns—whether it has, in fact, taken hold among a segment of uncertain, developing young people.

Why You Should Not Get Used to It

Do Not Get Used to It — The Choice Is Yours

Leadership begins close to home. Good models can be found in one’s own manager, coach, or parents. This war and crisis can serve as a useful bridge into conversations about the right attitudes. Leadership in everyday settings—among friends, in relationships, or at work—is delicate and full of choices. Small choices, big consequences.

The problem is not only the position of power held by a few current leaders, nor the timeframe in which they may be replaced.

The real risk lies in what we—and those who come after us—have already seen too much of.

That we watch, and we grow accustomed to it.