A hard reality is that if you don’t balance what you want a group to accomplish with accountability, they will drift into inaction and eventually resent the very freedom they were given. We saw this unravel at WeWork, where unchecked autonomy led to chaos.

Over time, those same people will speak poorly of you, much like how HP turned on Léo Apotheker. They will fail to grasp the simple truth that you handed them the opportunity to find their own voice and autonomy.

Yet, time and again, those who gain confidence through that freedom may turn against you, just as Uber’s culture turned on Travis Kalanick. And in the end, the public will gravitate toward the most confident voices, even if you were the one who fostered that confidence in the first place.

But there is a path to resilience: you must anchor yourself in your core purpose, communicate your expectations with absolute clarity, and maintain unwavering values.

You must be the steady force in the storm, the leader who stands firm amid shifting tides, and in doing so, you preempt the cycle. You demonstrate strength not by bending to every whim, but by holding fast to your vision. In that light, you are not the villain—they may try to cast you as such, but you remain the unwavering guidepost, and that is how you lead with lasting authority and purpose.