The Problem with the Heroic Leader: Where Leadership Ends and Personal Responsibility Begins

For thousands of years, cultures around the globe have told a version of the same story: the hero leaves home, faces trials, slays the dragons, and returns with treasure that saves the community. Joseph Campbell called this the Hero’s Journey, and it has shaped our imagination of what leadership should look like.

Even today, we unconsciously expect ourselves as leaders to embody this myth. We look up to that elusive notion of a heroic solver of all problems, the one who leaves the safety of the group, battles uncertainty, and comes back with the answer.

Job descriptions, performance reviews, and even our own self-talk reinforce the idea: it’s on the leader to fix everything.

The Problem with the Heroic Leader

Leadership research shows that this "great person" or "heroic" model of leadership is deeply embedded in our cultural narratives (Thornhill, 2022). It reflects a long history where leadership was synonymous with heroic acts in war and crisis (Haslam, Reicher & Platow, 2011). However, such a leader-centred view has several downsides.​

Here’s the problem: the heroic solver myth is not only outdated, it’s unsustainable.

Leaders who carry every problem themselves burn out, disempower their teams, and blur the boundary between what belongs to them and what belongs to others.

And ironically, these heroic leaders rarely develop other leaders.

By centralizing decisions, context, and recognition, they make people dependent on them, the opposite of empowerment.

This aligns with findings in social psychology revealing that people often have inflated heroic expectations of leaders but become disappointed with real leaders who cannot meet unrealistic ideals (Arnulf et al., 2015).

This gap can nurture frustration and dependency, rather than shared responsibility and growth.​

The Costs of Over-Ownership

Many leaders fall into over-functioning and emotional rescue cycles, which also lead to burnout and stifled team growth. Culture often rewards busyness and the "heroic grind," but this only creates bottlenecks and drains mental health (Thornhill, 2022).​

Blurry boundaries about what counts as leadership versus what belongs to individuals’ personal emotional regulation exacerbate this. Leaders are accountable for clarity, direction, and inclusion, but not for filling endless emotional needs (Robson, 2024).​

Rethinking Leadership: From Heroics to Transformation

Leadership thinkers like Warren Bennis and Carol Pearson offer a richer perspective. Pearson interestingly reframed the leader’s role through archetypes such as the Sage, Magician, Caregiver, and Ruler, none defined by slaying every dragon but each powerful in creating transformation and shared meaning.

Sage Archetype

The Sage leader values knowledge, learning, and truth above all else. A Sage might be a university president who guides the institution through wisdom and logic, or a CEO who insists on data-driven decisions and thorough research before strategic moves. In meetings, this leader might frequently ask probing questions and encourage discussion to seek deeper understanding.

Magician Archetype

The Magician acts as a transformative change agent, seeing possibilities that others miss and inspiring innovative thinking. An example is a tech start-up founder who disrupts the status quo by envisioning a new future for their industry or a consultant who catalyzes turnaround in a struggling company through unconventional methods. This archetype brings renewal and a sense of wonder to the organization.

Caregiver Archetype

Caregiver leaders make nurturing and safeguarding people their priority. This is seen in leaders like hospital administrators who focus on employee well-being, or team leads who prioritize development, mentorship, and community building. Their leadership is marked by empathy, support, and a genuine desire to help others flourish.

Ruler Archetype

Rulers excel at providing structure, order, and stability. They may be operations managers who design efficient systems, heads of government agencies who ensure accountability, or executives driving for predictable results and maintaining high standards. The Ruler’s core aim is to create environments where people can thrive under clear rules and direction.​

Each archetype offers a valuable perspective, and effective leaders may draw on all four as context demands, blending wisdom, transformation, nurturing, and order to meet organizational needs.​

What this means for you: Exploring these archetypes can help clarify personal leadership strengths and highlight areas for growth.

For instance, someone analytical may identify with the Sage but may wish to cultivate Magician creativity or Caregiver empathy for a more balanced leadership approach.

The deepest truth of the Hero’s Journey is not that the hero solves every problem, but that the hero is transformed, and then helps others transform (Robson, 2024).​

A New Leadership Ethos: Power With, Power To, Power Within

The shift from heroic “power over” to “power with” (shared agency), “power to” (capability), and “power within” (self-trust) is crucial (Robson, 2024).

Leaders become architects and facilitators, not owners, guiding processes and cultivating environments where people solve challenges and learn together.​

Letting people have their experiences and learning curves, illustrates how leaders can regain focus and energy by releasing control that is not theirs.

Effective leadership requires clarity about accountability, ownership, and creating inclusive culture without micromanaging others’ inner experiences.

Research on psychological safety highlights leaders’ role in creating environments where vulnerability is safe but participation remains voluntary (Edmondson, 2023).​

Practical Tools for Post-Heroic Leadership

If you are seeking to move beyond heroic leadership and empower more personal responsibility within your team, here is a set of self-reflective prompts for you:

Facilitate Solutions, Don’t Solve All Problems

Effective leaders recognize that their value lies not in being the sole problem-solver, but in creating an environment where others can develop solutions.

• How often do personal needs for control or recognition trigger stepping in unnecessarily?

• Reflect on what holds you back from enabling others to take initiative, does it come from ego, past success, or reluctance to let go?

• How can dialog and active listening empower people to experiment and own outcomes?​

Use Clear Expectations and Compassionate Boundaries

Self-reflective leaders set clear expectations while maintaining boundaries that respect each team member’s autonomy.

Regularly ask:

• Are standards being communicated transparently, or just assumed?

• How does compassionate feedback support, rather than undermine, personal accountability within the group?

• Where can assertive boundary-setting help clarify roles without dampening initiative?​

Build Team Norms that Separate Personal Responsibility

Consider: Which processes and assumptions reinforce the idea that the leader shoulders all accountability?

Reflect on whether the team has space to express, negotiate, and accept personal responsibility distinct from leadership authority.

In what ways could collaborative agreements and feedback rituals foster a culture where responsibility is co-created and lived by all members?

“I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with (their) freedom.” — Bob Dylan

Promote Distributed Decision-Making and Shared Learning

Review decision-making: are choices made in isolation, or do they emerge from diverse input and shared ownership? Ask:

• What steps can create psychological safety so everyone feels their contribution matters in shaping direction?

• How can a leader actively support learning across differences, making mistakes a source of reflection and mutual growth instead of blame?

Normalize Complexity and Diversity

Leaders must cultivate a mindset that views ambiguity and difference as sources of strength. Reflect:

• How comfortable is holding contradictory perspectives and embracing uncertainty about the path ahead?

• Are diverse experiences, identities, and interpretations being integrated meaningfully, or are they just acknowledged?

  
  

Self-reflection here helps reshape leadership as sense-making, not just directive action.​

Leaders who reflect honestly on these questions model the shift from “heroic” to “post-heroic”, helping their teams navigate complexity, assume responsibility, and grow collectively.

Shared Responsibility Is True Leadership

True leadership is not control.

Humans have a basic psychological need for autonomy (a sense of volition, “I’m choosing this”), so when leaders rely on control (pressure, micromanagement, coercive rewards), motivation and initiative drop.

Great leadership replaces control with autonomy support: clarity + choice + rationale + room to own the work.

It’s the creation of space where people take responsibility for themselves and where teams thrive together.

When as leaders we stop managing what isn’t ours, we regain the energy to shape vision, make hard calls, and develop leaders throughout the organization, embodying the real transformation promised by the Hero’s Journey.

Are you wrestling with where leadership ends and personal responsibility begins?

Reach out. I’ll partner with you as a coach to craft, and own, your unique way of leading.

Book a Strategy Session

---

Hi, I’m Monika, Strengths Coach and facilitator. I help individuals and groups cultivate resilience, emotional intelligence, and well-being through strengths-based coaching. Passionate about transformative and creative leadership, I empower leaders to drive meaningful change within themselves, their organizations, and beyond.

I hope you’ll visit often, and I look forward to connecting and working together!