Recently, we were jolted out of our sleepy weekend to the news of Sam Altman being ousted from his position as OpenAI CEO. But the most interesting part of the situation was his return to the company in less than a week since his firing.

It was so short that my friend and I joked, “Well, he basically took a 15-minute smoke break and a short walk in CBD before returning to the office.”

Since then, many opinion pieces have been published to analyse what happened and where we are going from here. For example, Alex Khrishner wrote for Slate that Altman “now has more power—and fewer constraints—than ever.”

“… More than any other single person, he’s been the face of the AI boom in the past year. He has come out of it with a pretty good reputation,” Khrishner wrote.

“With the board that tried to chasten him swapped out, Altman has a lot of leeway to make occasional principled stands while making zillions of dollars or not. His peers at public companies are more constrained.”

There is nothing new about the trope of a tech CEO/co-founder being ousted only to be called in again to continue on leading the company they started. Steve Jobs and Apple might be the first things to come to mind, but the difference is that there was a 12-year gap before he returned to the company.

(That was quite a smoke break, Steve.)

As discussion about the future of AI and implementation continues, we cannot help noticing how Altman’s reputation as a charismatic leader seemed to play a great role in how the situation progressed at Open AI last week. Particularly, it encourages us to ponder how charismatic leadership impacts innovation in addition to unity.

Especially as we saw OpenAI employees remain loyal to Altman and even threaten to leave with his departure.

Also Read: Captivating interview with OpenAI’s CEO and CTO: Insights and reflections

All about that one person

Every industry has its own charismatic leaders; one that can inspire people just by hearing their names. In the context of the tech industry, where storytelling plays a crucial role in driving new tech to the masses, charismatic leadership seems to play a bigger role.

“Charismatic leadership behaviour is a significant positive predictor for success in dynamic business environments of today,” writes Gulnar Joshi in a research paper called Charismatic Leaders & Innovation: Impact of charismatic leaders on the innovation practices in the companies they start and lead.

“For startups and their performance, leadership behaviour is as important as their context. Charismatic leaders are particularly suited to technology startups which are governed by a high degree of uncertainty in the initial phase. Charismatic leaders create a purpose, can stimulate motivation, are able to engage and influence a team to inspire performance and drive among team members.”

Even with this simple explanation, we can see how charismatic leaders can provide a sense of safety and security in times of crisis—or in a competitive, cut-throat environment such as the startup ecosystem. It gives team members a sense of having someone to look up to whose vision can help them get into that promised land.

But is this the only way to lead a startup? Is there any room for a more quiet form of leadership that focuses on getting the work in front of us done? One that is not showy, not getting much media attention?

As someone who has been in the tech startup ecosystem for years and has seen storytelling’s role in bringing innovation to the masses, I tend to be sceptical. I would even say that innovation does not happen in silence; it requires an audience. But on the other hand, there are different ways to build trust within a team.

Especially as startups are under pressure to grow more steadily as a business and put sustainability as their focus, the quite leadership may just be what we need in the industry.

You do you, founders.

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Image Credit: RunwayML

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