In Ancient Rome, where the public was enthralled by celebrity culture and helped elevate and sink reputations, 2022 would have been labeled an annus horribilis for cultish business leaders.
Given the recent fall from eminence of several headline-generating bosses, could 2023 be the year people – including investors – finally become more careful not to be hoodwinked by technology entrepreneurs and even snub them altogether? Moreover, have we reached “peak idolatry of innovators,” as suggested by Scott Galloway, clinical professor of marketing at New York University Stern School of Business?
Galloway noted that around 87% of the 8-billion-strong human population identified with a religion. “We have decided that they [tech entrepreneurs and innovators] are our new Jesus Christ,” he said in a 2023 Predictions webinar in early December. “There’s no religion that’s ever rivaled technology in terms of its influence and power, and the heads of technology companies are our idols.”
