by Ravi VS
The Multibillion-Dollar Leadership Lie
Leadership has become a lucrative business. A never-ending flood of workshops, courses, and books claim to reveal ‘global best practices’ in leadership and management.
If you search online or ask ChatGPT how many leadership books exist, you’ll be met with thousands. The formula is simple: write a book, call yourself a guru, and sell your ideology as the ultimate truth. And people keep buying it.
I have come to a stark realisation: there is no such thing as global best practices in leadership and management.
Leadership is not a one-size-fits-all formula. The attempt to standardise leadership principles across industries, geographies, and cultures ignores the complexities of human behaviour, organisational dynamics, and socio-economic contexts.
But if leadership is such a well-taught, well-documented subject, why do we still see corporate failures, toxic work environments, and incompetent leaders everywhere?
The truth is, most leadership training is an expensive illusion.
The Myth of the Leadership Guru
Over the past 30 years, I have attended leadership programmes from the most recognised names in the industry — Dale Carnegie, Stephen Covey, John Maxwell, Paul J. Meyer, and many others. I’ve participated in high-end retreats from the Banff Leadership Center to Ivy League executive programmes, military leadership schools, and Indian leadership institutions.
I missed experiencing Peter Drucker in person, but I’ve absorbed his work, along with that of Napoleon Hill and other pioneers.
After all of this, I can confidently say: there is no such thing as a universal formula for leadership.
Leadership is deeply contextual, unpredictable, and shaped by experience, not a set of rigid principles found in a best-selling book. The idea that a single framework can apply to every leader, in every organisation, across every industry is a delusion.
Stop Attending Workshops That Don’t Make You Think
The real tragedy? Many leadership workshops don’t challenge participants to think. They recycle generic frameworks and motivational quotes, offering feel-good moments rather than real transformation.
If a workshop doesn’t push you into discomfort — forcing you to question your assumptions, break your patterns, and think independently — then it is a waste of your time and money.
If leadership training doesn’t make you uncomfortable, it isn’t leadership training.
The Alternative: Purpose-Driven Leadership — But Not the Fluffy Kind
The moment I say “Purpose-Driven Leadership,” every leadership consultant will jump in, claiming they already teach it. They don’t.
What they sell is a watered-down, Instagram-friendly version of leadership that’s as empty as a corporate mission statement.
True purpose-driven leadership is brutal. It requires confronting your own limitations, making tough calls, and operating with an unshakable sense of direction.
It’s about leading not because a book told you to, but because you’ve wrestled with the fundamental questions of purpose, responsibility, and impact.
It’s not about adopting a trendy leadership style — it’s about forging your own.
The Hard Truth: Think for Yourself or Be Led Blindly
If you’re starting your leadership journey, do not chase the next hyped-up leadership book or sign up for an overpriced workshop promising the ‘secrets’ of great leaders. Instead, ask yourself: What kind of leader do I want to be? What impact do I want to have?
Seek experiences that force you to think. Find mentors who challenge your views. Engage in environments that demand adaptation, decision-making, and responsibility. Leadership isn’t learned in a classroom — it’s forged in reality.
The best leadership advice you’ll ever get? If you don’t think for yourself, someone else will. And you may not like where they lead you.
Ravi VS is a foresight strategist with Invictus Leader and whose work impacts more than one million people and some 15,000 organisations in 54 countries
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