Business leaders are rejecting the CEO God Complex
Insights
Written by Mike Norris, Head of Truth Intelligence, and Duart Rankin, Account Director.
Personified by the tech-imperialists in Silicon Valley and the populist strongmen in global politics, we have seen the traditional norms of leadership upended by the rise of the CEO God complex.
This challenge to traditional leadership archetypes is significant. Companies are defined by their people. Truly effective communication has to be grounded in a deep understanding of what is driving the leaders behind the brands.
Harnessing a range of tools at our disposal through Truth Intelligence, our tech-powered research solution, we have explored the key themes defining leadership in 2025.
Crucially, we found that while the performative power plays of leaders like Trump and Musk dominate the headlines, the God Complex is being roundly rejected by business leaders in the UK.
Decoding the language of leadership, we uncover the motivations behind decision making in 2025, from non-destructive disruption, to social impact. Going deeper we unpack modern leadership personas, exploring the values through which leaders today define themselves.
From these insights we are able to offer businesses and brands a range of practical recommendations to drive better engagements with decision makers in 2025 and beyond.
Some key takeaways for us were:
- Business leaders are CEOs some of the time, but people all of the time. It’s never been more important to speak ‘human’ to win over decision makers.
- Most leaders still spend a lot of time thinking about their social impact.
- Experts are back in vogue, so put the technical excellence that underpins your proposition front and centre.
- We need to speak about ‘building’, ‘growing’ and ‘travelling’, not ‘disrupting’.
- It’s time we all cheered up, but without sticking our heads in the sand as we attempt to manifest positivity after a bleak few years.
Please read our full report to discover more about Truth Intelligence and the languages of leadership in 2025 here.
