Poser-leaders lack the innovative creativity of founders whose footsteps they follow. It happens about every 50 years: A leader answers the problems of the times, then a poser-successor follows in his footsteps, singing the same song, long after the problems are solved. Fifty years later, new leaders raise up to expel the posers. And so history repeats—with tech companies, civil rights, China, the Church, Democrats, Republicrats, and even in the 2014 elections.
This is not a historical anomaly, but a perfect tempo. Hunger for greatness blinds posers to the demons they empower—demons who don’t know that their tempo exposes itself.