In the comedy western Blazing Saddles during a seminal moment, the sheriff points a gun to his head and threatens to blow his own brains out if everyone doesn’t do as he says.

There have been echoes of this persuasive technique recently in the United Kingdom whose populace voted to exit the European Union. A cabal of leaders fell on their own swords like dominoes in the days after the referendum, the biggest casualty being the Prime Minister, David Cameron. Was such a bloodbath necessary? I would argue that in critical times, the case for reflective rather than reactive leadership, in society and organizations, has never been stronger.

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