There are two terrific antidotes for preventing a leader from morphing into an untouchable icon. Antidote one is schlubbing. Iconic leaders need to walk their dogs, take out their garbage, and wait in line once in awhile. The idea is not to breathe only the rarefied air because that kind of isolation skews perspective and lets the untouchable arrogance grow. A student shared a story with me about an interaction her friends had with the late Ken Lay and his wife, Linda. Just after all the news about the Enron fraud broke, Mr. Lay was on the cover of Time magazine as the very symbol of corporate greed. During the week that cover appeared, my students’ friends were on a flight with the Lays. The flight was awkward as the passengers realized who was with them there in first class. The passengers all avoided eye contact and conversation with the Lays. However, after the plane had landed, my student’s friends turned to Mrs. Lay and said, “This must be a very difficult time for you.” Mrs. Lay responded, “You have no idea. Just arranging this trip was awful. We had to fly COMMERCIAL!” A wee bit of perspective and the view from the retail level had long been lost on them.

The second antidote is a combination of self-deprecation and humor. When Herb Kelleher eased up on his role at Southwest Airlines, there were actually two officers, general counsel Jim Parker and executive vice president, Colleen Barrett, who took over Herb’s duties. Parker and Barrett acknowledged that it did indeed take two people to replace Herb, with Parker commenting, “"Well, Colleen's going to handle the smoking, and I'm going to handle the drinking." That two officers felt comfortable enough to use humor involving the founder of their company speaks volumes about Mr. Kelleher’s willingness to listen. Human, approachable, and, well, a schlub. Regal treatment means little or no dissent. Little or no dissent means the icon continues to push the envelope in the gradual descent into ethical and legal missteps.